Ron DeSantis turned Florida red – and now Trump is picking who keeps it that way.
A brand-new poll shows Trump's chosen successor has left the entire Republican field in the dust.
Byron Donalds just hit 50 percent in the Florida GOP gubernatorial primary while Jay Collins – who spent millions on ads – is sitting at 6.
Trump's Endorsement Is Doing Exactly What It Always Does
The Tarrance Group survey – conducted March 30 through April 2 – shows Donalds at 50 percent among likely Republican primary voters.
Hedge fund investor James Fishback is at 9 percent.
Lt. Gov. Jay Collins is at 6 percent.
Former House Speaker Paul Renner didn't clear 5 percent.
This isn't a close race.
Collins is the story within the story: in January he was at 12 percent, spent heavily on advertising, and came out the other side with half the support he started with.
Money couldn't save him from the Trump endorsement.
Donalds raised $22.2 million in Q1 alone – the single largest fundraising quarter ever recorded by a non-incumbent candidate for Florida governor – bringing his total haul to over $67 million.
https://twitter.com/ElectionTime_/status/2043064045574459734?s=20
For perspective, Ron DeSantis raised roughly $17 million across his entire first open primary campaign in 2018.
The Number That Should End This Race Right Now
Fifty-three percent of Republican primary voters now know Trump endorsed Donalds – a 9-point jump since January.
In the Tampa Bay market, where American Mission Florida has focused its ad spending, endorsement awareness jumped 14 points.
In the Panhandle it climbed 7 points.
Every time a Florida Republican learns the president's position, Donalds gets stronger.
That matters because 27 percent of Republican primary voters are still undecided.
A Fabrizio, Lee & Associates survey from January showed what happens when those voters get informed: Donalds was at 47 percent in the open field, and when respondents were told about Trump's endorsement, his support jumped to 76 percent.
The undecideds don't stay undecided once they learn where Trump stands.
The Primary Is a Formality and Democrats Know It
Trump-endorsed candidates have won roughly 90 percent of contested Republican primaries since 2020.
https://twitter.com/FCLedger/status/2043004394979930379?s=20
In Florida – a state Trump carried by 13 points in 2024 – that number is effectively 100.
Here's what this race is actually about, and the media will never say it plainly: a Naples congressman backed by the full force of the Trump movement is about to become the governor of the third-largest state in America – and Democrats have no answer for him.
He has 37 of Florida's 67 sheriffs, Elon Musk, Rick Scott, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Speaker Mike Johnson, Ted Cruz, and three-quarters of the Republican House caucus in Florida.
Trump called him a "superstar of the future."
The Emerson College poll from late March landed in the same place as Tarrance – Donalds at 46 percent, every opponent in single digits, two firms and two methodologies reaching the same verdict.
Democrats haven't won a Florida governor's race since 1994.
What's coming in November isn't a close election – it's a reckoning.
Sources:
- Frank Kopylov, "POLL: Byron Donalds at 50% while other candidates poll in single digits in Florida GOP gubernatorial primary," Florida News, April 10, 2026.
- Jacob Ogles, "Byron Donalds posts record $22M quarter to kick off 2026 Governor's race," Florida Politics, April 1, 2026.
- Jesse Scheckner, "Poll: Byron Donalds at 50% in GOP Governor's Primary as most voters support federal AI framework," Florida Politics, April 10, 2026.
- A.G. Gancarski, "First ad for Byron Donalds gubernatorial bid emphasizes Donald Trump endorsement," Florida Politics, February 17, 2026.
- "Byron Donalds, David Jolly lead in Florida governor's race: Emerson College Polling," ABC27/Nexstar, April 2, 2026.
- "Sheriffs keep lining up as Byron Donalds racks up endorsements," Florida Politics, April 8, 2026.
- "Byron Donalds Raises $22.2 Million in Q1 as Florida Gov Race Heats Up," Breitbart, April 1, 2026.
