Voters in poll pick DeSantis as best governor on COVID, Cuomo as worst

DeSantis took less intrusive approach, Cuomo enforced strict mitigation measures.

Published: March 24, 2021 11:28am

Updated: March 24, 2021 1:59pm

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had the best response to the COVID-19 pandemic, while New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo had the worst, said respondents in a new Just the News Daily Poll with Scott Rasmussen.

In the poll of registered voters, 22% said DeSantis had the "most effective response to COVID-19," while 28% said Cuomo had the worst. Just 19% of voters, meanwhile, said DeSantis, a Republican, had the worst response, while only 15% said Cuomo's was the best.

Just the News Daily Poll

(Just the News)

Just the News Daily Poll

(Just the News)

Debate has raged over the past year as to which response to COVID-19 is more effective: the stringent lockdown measures adopted by Cuomo, or the more hands-off approach utilized by DeSantis.

New York is currently second among states for population-adjusted deaths from COVID-19, while Florida is #27. Cuomo, a Democrat, has also lately been embroiled in a scandal in which his administration concealed the total number of COVID-19 nursing home deaths in the state for many months.

The survey of 1,200 registered voters was conducted by Rasmussen using a mixed-mode approach from March 18-20, 2021, and had a margin of sampling error: +/- 2.8 percentage points.

Click here to see the poll's cross-demographic tabulations.

Click here to see the poll's methodology and sample demographics.