Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) is standing out as the clear leader in the GOP primary race for Florida’s next governor, an Emerson College poll released on Thursday revealed.
The Republican primary poll shows Donalds — who is backed by President Donald Trump — leading the field with 46 percent support from likely GOP primary voters. Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins and GOP investor James Fishback follow, tying for a distant second with four percent support each. Former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives Paul Renner (R) follows with three percent support, and another three percent chose “other.”
However, there is a large percentage of voters who remain undecided. Thirty-nine percent said they do not know who they would support.
Regardless, Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, pointed out that Donalds is, indeed, the clear favorite at this point.
“Byron Donalds is the clear favorite among Republicans to succeed Governor DeSantis,” he said, noting that Donalds “leads all age groups and holds majority support among voters over 60, at 54 percent.”
The survey also took a look at a potential general election matchup between Donalds an former Rep. David Jolly — a Republican turned Democrat. Notably, Jolly served in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican from 2014-2017 and switched to independent status in 2018. Last year, he made the final switch to the Democrat Party.
The hypothetical matchup still shows Donalds with the edge over Jolly, leading 44 percent to the Democrat’s 39 percent support. However, undecided voters come in at 17 percent — more than enough to swing the race in either direction.
Florida has a history of nail-biter elections. While Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) — who cannot run again due to term limits — crushed former Gov. Charlie Crist (D) in the 2022 election by double digits, it was a different story in 2018, where DeSantis only edged out Democrat Andrew Gillum by less than half a percentage point, or less than 33,000 votes statewide.
This survey was taken March 29-31, 2026, among 1,125 likely voters. It has a +/- 2.8 percent margin of error.
The results come one day after the campaign for Byron Donalds and the Friends of Byron Donalds PAC announced that the candidate raised $22.2 million during the first quarter of 2026. The donations came from over 10,000 donors as the guberatorial hopeful continues to rack up critical endorsements , earning support not just from the president but the likes of Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), fellow Florida Rep. Jimmy Patronis (R-FL), and sheriffs across the state.
Outlining his vision, Donalds told Breitbart News last year that he hopes to take the Sunshine State to the “next level.”
“Governor DeSantis has led our state tremendously, and now it’s taking all that success and then now building upon it. What are we going to do about the future of transportation in our state, making sure it’s easier for our citizens to move through our cities and move to the states. Insurance. We have to continue to do everything we can to drive prices low,” he said, adding that Florida can become the “financial capital of the world in a decade.”
He added, “We’re blessed to live in the best state in America.”
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