Republicans have been on a good run of nabbing political power in Florida for much of the past decade, and a new Florida Chamber of Commerce poll shows Sunshine State voters like what they see from the GOP.
When asked which party voters are likely to support next year, 50% of Floridians said they would vote for Republican candidates. Only 38% said they would likely support Democratic candidates.
Republicans will enjoy that momentum mainly because the number of registered Republicans in Florida exceeds registered Democratic voters and the margin is growing wider. The Chamber poll included data on registered voters, and Democrats are in trouble.
There were 5.632 million registered Republicans in the Sunshine State as of Dec. 31. That’s an advantage of about 1.157 million voters over Democrats, who now have around 4.475 million registered voters.
While that is an impressive edge, Republicans don’t have a monopoly on voting quite yet. The wild card still is held by no-party voters and that represents a large voting bloc. There are still 4.138 million Floridians who prefer not to be a member of the GOP or the Democratic Party.
But the stark reality is that Republicans have gained registered voters in all of the 67 counties in Florida while Democrats have seen registration for their party drop in every county since 2022.
Republicans also now hold every statewide elected office. The GOP benefited from President Donald Trump maintaining his Florida home in Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach County and both chambers of the Legislature are ruled by Republicans.
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis shored up his power base when he was easily re-elected to another four-year term in 2022. In 2024, despite some Democrats claiming the state might be in play for them again in the Presidential Election, Republicans drubbed the Democrats. Trump trounced Democratic challenger Kamala Harris, winning the Florida presidential vote 56.1% to 43%.
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