President Donald Trump’s network of choice has delivered a humiliating blow to a MAGA candidate in his adopted home state.
Fox News has moved the Florida governor’s race from “Likely R” to “Lean R,” marking another setback for Republican Rep. Byron Donalds, who was once considered a potential Trump running mate in 2024 but instead had his loyalty rewarded with an early endorsement for governor.
The Rupert Murdoch-owned network cited a monumental shift in Hispanic voters’ political leanings as the reason for its change in forecasting the race.
In 2024, 43 percent of Hispanic voters surveyed by Fox said that they supported Trump. Now, the network’s most recent survey shows a 12-point drop in GOP support among Latinos, which make up more than a quarter of Florida’s population.
That trend is also playing out in other states, as an NBC News and Telemundo poll released this month found that 69 percent of Latino voters nationwide disapprove of Trump’s performance, while only 27 percent approve.
Two-thirds of those surveyed also said the administration’s deportation policies have gone too far, and 78 percent disapproved of how the president has addressed the rising cost of living.
Donalds, 47, went on Fox News to address the shift, insisting that he is not worried about the reported drop in Latino support.
“We actually see in our numbers that Hispanic support is actually growing in our campaign,” he said. “We’re seeing internally that our numbers among Hispanic voters and with all voters is rising, and we feel that we do have the wind in our sails to be very successful on Nov. 3.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
Florida, once a purple state, has shifted to become ruby red in the Trump era.
Both Trump and GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis have recorded commanding victories in the state, with DeSantis winning his last re-election bid by nearly 20 points—the largest margin for a Florida gubernatorial election since 1982.
The shift in voter sentiment in such a Republican hot spot is indicative of a greater movement nationwide, as Trump’s approval rating sinks lower and lower.
The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll found that Trump’s approval has fallen to a record low of 31 percent, with only two weeks left before the midterm elections on Nov. 3.
The 80-year-old president seems to have accepted his looming humiliation.
According to Wall Street Journal White House reporter Meredith McGraw, Trump told reporters after a Tuesday press briefing: “The president always loses for whatever reason, the midterms. Whoever it is—Republican, Democrat, great president, lousy president—for some reason.”
Last month, Donald scrubbed nearly all mentions of Trump from his campaign website, joining several other GOP candidates fearful that aligning too closely with the unpopular president would hurt their chances of winning in the midterms.
