GOP’s 'extremist agenda' could put Florida in play for Biden — and sink Trump: analysis

The 2022 midterms turned out to be much better for Democrats than expected, with Democratic candidates enjoying victories in key swing states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona and Wisconsin.

But Florida was so bad for Democrats that year that many Democratic strategists concluded it was no longer a swing state and had gone deep red.

In the months following far-right Gov. Ron DeSantis' landslide 19-percent reelection victory, many pundits argued that Florida wouldn't be part of President Joe Biden's path to reelection in 2024 — that while Biden could win Georgia and Arizona again, the Sunshine State wouldn't be in play for him.

But in a column this week, Bloomberg News’ Mary Ellen Klas argues that DeSantis and his allies have overplayed their hand — and that Florida could be within grasp for Biden.

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"Few pundits consider Florida a true swing state," Klas argues. "But after two years of Gov. Ron DeSantis pushing his extremist agenda, including one of the toughest abortion bans in the country, and policies curtailing the teaching of Black history and gender identity, there's a case to be made that Florida voters have had enough of the Republican Party's obsession with culture wars. That may pay off for Democrats at the ballot box."

Klas points out that in a poll released in early June, right-wing Fox News found that 69 percent of Floridians supported an amendment to the state's constitution offering some protection for abortion rights. And a Morning Consult poll released in April, she adds, found that DeSantis now has a disapproval rating of 44 percent.

Fox News' poll found Trump with a 4 percent lead over Biden in Florida — a lead that, some pundits say, is challenging but not insurmountable.

"Florida voters, many of them transplants from other places, are traditionally independent thinkers," Klas explains. "They have a long history of splitting their ballots between personality politics and issue-oriented policies. In the last 20 years, voters have repeatedly elected conservative Republicans for governor while also voting for liberal-leaning constitutional amendments that raised the minimum wage, provided for environmental conservation, limited class size, legalized medical marijuana and banned oil drilling."

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Mary Ellen Klas' full op-ed for Bloomberg News is available at this link (subscription required).