Three out of four Florida voters say they would vote for homestead property tax relief

While Gov. Ron DeSantis is taking his time releasing a specific plan for a a Special Session to get rid of homestead property taxes, a new survey from Stetson University’s Center for Public Opinion Research shows remarkably strong support for the concept.

The survey of 848 likely voters conducted between March 25 and April 13 shows that if DeSantis actually introduces his plan and the Legislature votes to put it on the ballot, it will easily clear the 60% threshold to ratify it as a constitutional amendment.

“A property tax amendment … enjoys strong support at 77% (53% definitely, 24% probably), though Republicans are more enthusiastic (85%) than Democrats (68%),” the pollsters write.

The amendment is necessary because lawmakers can’t make the change without voter approval.

Real opposition is hard to find in this survey.

While only 58% of independent voters are currently for it, the numbers suggest it’s because they don’t know about it. While 18% are opposed, 25% more don’t have an opinion either way.

The data should be welcome news for a Governor who has hinted at trouble building the necessary legislative consensus to get the measure through both the friendly Senate and the less-friendly House with the 60% votes needed to put it on the November ballot.

DeSantis said earlier this week he was “working with legislators” to find agreeable language that a legislative super-majority would endorse.

These numbers may embolden them more than last month’s polling from the University of North Florida’s Public Opinion Research Lab (PORL). which found that among likely Midterm voters in the Sunshine State, 56% are for gradually eliminating taxes on homesteaded property over 10 years, not counting taxes for schools and emergency services.

DeSantis ultimately expects legislators to pass it, though, saying they’d be called back to Tallahassee until they do.

“We know that we have until August, so there will be a Special Session to do the property tax. And my sense would be, we’ll get there probably on the first try. But if not, there will be more of those Sessions until they put something on the ballot. I don’t think that they can go back to the voters without having put something on the ballot,” DeSantis speculated.

This poll suggests his read of the electorate may be correct.