Joe Biden loses big to Ron DeSantis in hypothetical election matchup among Florida voters

A new poll found that President Joe Biden would lose by a large margin to Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in a hypothetical presidential election matchup among voters in Florida.

The USA Today-Suffolk University poll released Tuesday found Floridans were very dissatisfied with the president's performance in his first year in office.

58% of those polled said that the United States is headed in the wrong direction, while only 28% said that it was headed in the right direction.

In a hypothetical matchup, Biden would lose by 8 percentage points to the popular Florida governor, 52% to 44%. Florida is a key swing state in presidential elections.

Biden performed slightly better when Floridans were asked about the pandemic response. 45% said they approved of his pandemic policies while 48% said they disapproved.

The president has been plagued by low polling numbers in recent months after a series of damaging and embarrassing incidents including the crisis at the border and the humiliating retreat of U.S. forces from Afghanistan.

The poll found that former President Donald Trump would also beat Biden in a presidential rematch, but that he would only win by 3 percentage points, from 47% to 44%.

“Ironically, this 2024 Florida case study could be the narrative of the 2022 midterms: party nominees, who are strong within their party but less popular among the general electorate, could win their respective party primaries but falter in the general election,” said Suffolk University Political Research Center director David Paleologos.

DeSantis is considered one of the stronger candidates to run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 but the biggest stumbling block in his way would be the possibility of a third campaign by Trump.

The poll carried a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.

Here's more about Biden's falling popularity:

New poll shows widening gap between Americans and Biden's leadershipwww.youtube.com