In a fictitious contest in the Sunshine State, former president Donald Trump as well as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) have an advantage over President Joe Biden, according to a North Florida University Public Opinion Research Lab poll.

Who would you vote for if the presidential election of 2024 took place today with Joe Biden running for the Democrat Party and Donald Trump running for the Republican Party?

Trump receives 50% of the vote versus Biden’s 43% in the fictitious contest. Seven percent more are still unsure. Importantly, Trump also has an advantage among independent voters, where he leads Biden by 5% or 47% to 42%.

The same question was posed in the survey, pitting Biden against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who just so happens to be significantly up in this specific poll’s GOP primary in his home state.

DeSantis has a nine percent advantage against Biden, or 51 percent to 42 percent. DeSantis has an advantage against Biden among independent voters, 48 percent to 42 percent, much like Trump does.

In addition, the poll indicated that Biden won’t find much support in Florida, where 53% of respondents have either a very or extremely negative opinion of him. The same opinion is held by 54% of independents.

1,452 registered voters were polled between February 25 and March 7, 2023. The margin of error is +/- 2.57 percent. Significantly, the margins of victory for both Trump and DeSantis exceed that number.

The survey was conducted as rumors about DeSantis’s political future, who has yet to declare whether or not he intends to run for president in 2024, continue to spread. Yet even as other candidates, including Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy, formally enter the electoral fray, Trump has already launched a number of preventative attacks and maintains his advantage in several national polls.

DeSantis, on the other hand, has refrained from criticizing the former leader, telling reporters in November that “people just need to cool down” regarding speculations of a civil war between the two.