Per Mason-Dixon, Ron DeSantis’s approval rating in Florida is now four points higher than it was in September, 2022, just before he won re-election by a remarkable 19 points. Back in September, his approval rating was at 55 percent. Now it’s at 59 percent. This is just three points off its highest peak, which was 62 percent in March of 2019. The gap between DeSantis’s “approve” and “disapprove” rating is 20 points. Among independents, he’s at 59-38 approve-disapprove (which is almost identical to his overall numbers). Among Hispanics, he’s at 56-41. Among African-Americans, he’s at 29-70.

Mason-Dixon also shows that DeSantis is more popular in Florida than both Joe Biden (whose approve-disapprove is 35-60!) and Donald Trump (whose favorable-unfavorable is 39-53). Among Republicans in Florida, DeSantis’s favorable number is 87 percent, compared to 71 for Donald Trump.

Does this mean that DeSantis is a lock for Florida’s primary votes? It does not. In Mason-Dixon’s head-to-head match, DeSantis holds a narrow lead over Trump, 44-39.

Personally, I find this a bit odd. Per Mason-Dixon, Republicans in Florida prefer DeSantis to Trump by 16 points, and they can see that, among Floridians in general, DeSantis is 20 points more popular than Trump, and yet DeSantis is their choice for presidential nominee by just five points?

Er, why?