Disney-Slapping Tyrant Ron DeSantis Somehow Still Leading Florida Governor Polls
We wish we had better news.
Some new polls this week show that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s reign of terror might continue for another four years — unless he goes national.
The incumbent despot has 47 percent support from registered voters to Democratic Rep. (and former governor) Charlie Crist’s 44 percent. His lead over Agriculture Secretary Nikki Fried is even greater at 49 to 43 percent. These results are from Florida Watch and Progress Florida, both progressive groups in the state and not DeSantis’s mother, so it’s hard to spin this as a positive.
DeSantis narrowly won election in 2018 by about 30,000 votes. We knew he was a Trump sycophant and an overall doofus, but he’s since proven himself a wannabe tyrant. He’s attacked the LGBTQ community, promoted voter suppression, and likely helped kill a lot of people through his free-range COVID-19 policies.
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DeSantis has governed like he starts each morning reading far-Right Reddit groups instead of briefings about Floridians’ actual needs and concerns. He picked a fight with Disney because it objected to his gross bigotry, and he punished Florida's own Tampa Bay Rays because players expressed concern about school shootings. Yeah, DeSantis isn’t big on the First Amendment, which explains his somewhat homicidal anti-protest laws and bullying of teachers who introduce students to controversial subjects like "reality.”
From Florida Politics:
Pollsters found DeSantis holds near universal name recognition but voters have strong feelings as a result. About 50% of [voters] hold a favorable view, with 39% saying they view him “very favorably.” But 48% have an unfavorable view, and 40% see him “very unfavorably.”
DeSantis has 50 percent approval while President Joe Biden’s approval is roughly the same as the cancelled Batgirl movie test screening. Florida is weird. How has DeSantis made anyone’s life materially better, unless half the state’s voters enjoy seeing DeSantis torment the other half. It’s an electoral version of Sartre’s No Exit .
The surveyed electorate did lean to the Right: Republicans were about 41 percent of those polled; 37 percent were Democrats, and 22 percent were non-affiliated voters. The actual 2018 electorate was 38 percent Republican, 33 percent Democrat, and 29 percent independent. Democrat Andrew Gillum carried independents by 10 points. The 2020 electorate was 38 percent Republican, 30 percent Democrat, and 32 percent independent. The decreasing share of Democrats is a serious concern. Gillum and Biden might’ve won independents, but their dominance among Democrats is what makes the race competitive.
Putting into perspective, Georgia, which Joe Biden won, had a 2020 electorate breakdown of 34 percent Democrat, 38 percent Republican, and 28 percent independent. The 2021 runoffs were even more favorable: 37 percent Democrat, 38 percent Republican, and 25 percent independent.
Since 2020, Florida’s total registration fell from 14.5 million to 14.2 million — people either died, fled the state because it’s Florida, or let their registration expire. Unfortunately, registered Republicans lost only 83,000 voters while the number of registered Democrats fell by more than 356,000. Florida can’t lose half a Wyoming worth of Democrats and realistically maintain its swing-state status.
Despite these advantages, Republicans aren’t exactly sporting when it comes to elections. They’ve gerrymandered themselves into a likely permanent legislative majority, while systematically making it harder for people (esp. of color) to vote.Note that in 2016 and 2018, Florida Republicans were more likely to vote by mail but in 2020, one million more Democrats voted by mail. Just a few months later, "election security” suddenly demanded major restrictions to mail voting.
We can’t give up on Florida, though. We need to register more Democrats and work harder on Latino outreach. DeSantis is also attempting to seize control of people’s uteruses with gross abortion bans. Let’s hope that motivates more Democrats to the polls.
[ Florida Politics ]
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