The Tireless Ron DeSantis

Posted on Tuesday, March 12, 2019
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by Outside Contributor
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optimism

The last time most Americans heard of Ron DeSantis, the former GOP congressman had edged past Mayor Andrew Gillum (D., Tallahassee) in their rough-and-tumble wrestling match for Florida’s governorship. After contested recounts in Broward and Palm Beach Counties, DeSantis, 40, prevailed over Gillum, 39, by a margin more svelte than Palm Beach — 49.6 percent to 49.2 percent. Among 8.1 million ballots cast, just 32,463 votes divided victor from vanquished.

Since his January 8 inauguration, DeSantis has done far more than rearrange the gubernatorial furniture. Indeed, he has led a burst of pro-market, limited-government reforms that are making Florida even greater.

How popular?

The high-energy DeSantis has widened his 49.6 percent win into 64 percent job approval in a February 15–17 Public Opinion Research survey, Among 800 likely voters, just 24 percent disapprove of his performance. (Margin of error: +/− 3.5 percent.)

“DeSantis’ high marks, along with a net approval of 30 points, would place him among the most popular governors in America,” according to the study, sponsored by U.S. Term Limits. DeSantis earned thumbs up from 40 percent of blacks, 46 percent of Democrats, 60 percent of independents, 62 percent of Hispanics, 68 percent of whites, and 85 percent of Republicans.

“Governor DeSantis is off to a decisive start. And that decisiveness is around substantive issues that matter,” says Peter Schweizer, president of the private-sector Government Accountability Institute in Tallahassee. Schweizer told me: “He also is proving to be unpredictable, in the best sense of that word. It’s very early, but this lays the foundation for a presidential campaign in 2024.”

URL : https://amac.us/newsline/national-security/the-tireless-ron-desantis/