Inside Florida’s politics – Conventional wisdom remains unwise
Bottom Line: One thing about politics is that while the politicians change, the issues may change, and the times always change – we tend to be incredibly cyclical – except in Florida. Florida’s been a bit of an enigma for many years but compared to the rest of the country that’s only becoming truer with time. Starting with this little factoid. Despite having more Hispanic voters than at any time in our state’s history, the gap between registered Democrat and Republican voters has never been lower and Florida has a Republican governor and two Republican US Senators for the first time since 1868.
That defies all political conventional wisdom. The reason(s) behind it illustrate something I highlighted locally and nationally leading up to last November’s elections. Nationally 69% of Hispanics voted for Democrats in the midterm elections. In Florida, political analytics firm/pollster OnMessage, determined that Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis won approx. 48% of the Hispanic vote in Florida. That included over two-thirds of Cubans, traditionally conservative, but also 50% of Puerto Ricans. Remember how mainstream politicos and news outlets often suggested that the proliferation of Puerto Rican voters after the hurricanes in 2017 would lead to permanent Democrat majorities in Florida going forward?
Leading up to Election Day I highlighted my belief that Puerto Ricans might vote in greater numbers for Democrats down ballot but appeared to be more likely to support Republicans at the top of the ticket in Florida. It’s exactly what we’ve come to find out. And it’s all part of what makes Florida different. Not only does Hispanic mean about 30 different things in Florida – we continue to see that when you have politicians that take an interest in super-serving diverse communities – stereo-types don’t exist.
Florida’s a model for the rest of the country. If we had more responsive and responsible politicians that didn’t take voters for granted, we’d likely have better governance and fewer political stereo-types that unlike Florida, do exist for a reason.