Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is seeing his approval ratings plunge after enacting and seeking to enforce stringent measures that prevent schools in his state from taking actions that would prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Earlier this year, DeSantis signed a bill into law that banned local governments, including school districts, from issuing rules about masking, despite a recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that every school in the nation require masking to prevent students and staff from contracting and spreading the deadly virus.
After several school districts said they would keep their masking rules in place, DeSantis threatened to withhold the pay of district officials in punishment for their defiance, even though they were acting in the interest of public health. (The Biden administration has since said that it will aid those districts by paying for any penalties DeSantis imposes on them).
DeSantis went forward with these threats despite polling in his state consistently showing that most people support policies made at the local level to keep masking rules in place in the state’s schools. In fact, most Americans back masking requirements in schools, and Florida is no different: Around 62 percent of voters in Florida support rules requiring masks for students and staff in public schools.
Now, new polling shows that DeSantis may have harmed himself politically over his stubborn stance on masking and other issues related to the pandemic.
A Political Matrix/The Listener Group survey published this week asked Florida residents whether they had positive or negative views of the governor over his handling of the pandemic. Just 43.3 percent said they viewed DeSantis favorably on that issue, while 53.8 percent said they had an unfavorable opinion of him.
The dissatisfaction felt by Florida voters has put DeSantis at a disadvantage against his potential political opponents, as he is up for reelection in 2022. In a hypothetical matchup against former governor and current U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist (D-Florida), DeSantis would lose the governorship, earning just over 43 percent of the vote versus Crist, who would get close to 57 percent, the poll found.
DeSantis also fares poorly against Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried. In that matchup, Fried would win with 53.7 percent of the vote, with DeSantis attaining just 46.3 percent, if the election were held today.
DeSantis, who is viewed as a potential nominee to the Republican Party’s ticket in the 2024 presidential election, has overseen what many perceive to be a disastrous response to the coronavirus pandemic in his state, particularly in the past few months as Florida has become one of the nation’s largest hotbeds for COVID infections. Florida currently ranks third among all other states in the U.S. in terms of how many new cases of coronavirus are being reported daily on a per capita basis. The state also has the third-highest rate of COVID deaths in the nation for the past two weeks, with more than 227 Floridians dying per day on average.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy