Poll: Florida Governor DeSantis gets high marks for Hurricane Ian response

A new YouGov America poll showed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis received high marks from respondents for his response to Hurricane Ian so far. 

The poll results, published on October 5, showed that from October 1-4, most approved of DeSantis’ response to the disastrous hurricane that leveled parts of Florida’s west coast two weeks ago.

A total of 54 percent of the 1,500 US adults surveyed said they approved of the governor’s response, with only 20 percent disapproving. Republicans had the highest approval rating for DeSantis, with 80 percent, and only 8 percent who disapproved.

About 60 percent of respondents said they approved of the response by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, while 54 percent said they approved of the job the federal government on the whole has done responding to the hurricane.

One thing most poll respondents – 55 percent –  agreed upon is that climate change is indeed happening, and it is a result of human activity. Only 9 percent of respondents said climate change is not happening. Notably, most of the respondents surveyed – 49 percent – were not directly or indirectly impacted by the storm.

As of the time of this article, the death toll in Florida from Hurricane Ian stands at 102. Search and rescue efforts have officially ended and recovery efforts have begun.

DeSantis’ performance after the storm will serve as a test in the weeks before the midterm elections next month, when his seat will be challenged by Democrat Rep. Charlie Crist. As of October 11, DeSantis was leading Crist at 49.9 percent to 43.2 percent, according to FiveThirtyEight.