‘Governor who?’: Ron DeSantis’ popularity tanks as Biden mocks him and Delta ravages state
Ron DeSantis’s popularity has fallen among Floridians as Delta infections continue to ravage his state, which last week accounted for almost one in five infections from Covid across the whole US.
Mr DeSantis, who is facing criticism from local politicians as well as the White House, has seen his approval ranting collapse by 10 per cent, according to a poll published on Wednesday by St Pete Polls.
It found that of 3,952 respondents to the poll on 2 and 3 August, as few as 44 per cent approved of the Florida Republican, who US president Joe Biden referred to on Thursday as “governor who?”
The President, who was asked about Mr DeSantis’ handling of Covid, told Republican governors to “get out of the way of the people who are trying to do the right thing,” if they were not “willing to do the right thing” to reduce infections.
Florida, in addition to Texas, currently accounts for a third of all Covid cases in the US, with the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reporting one in five infections in Florida alone.
On Thursday, a record total of 12,373 hospitalisations were reported by the state’s health department — among them more children than any other US state.
Mr DeSantis, who is widely seen as a possible challenger to Mr Biden in 2024, hit back by saying he didn’t “want to hear a blip about Covid" from the White House until the issue of border security is fixed.
Gov. Ron DeSantis blasts Joe Biden, tells him to do his job and that Florida is a place for freedom, not a "biomedical security state." pic.twitter.com/bsarqlnbHY
— (((Jason Rantz))) on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) August 4, 2021
“If you're trying to restrict people and impose mandates and ruin their jobs and livelihood if you are trying to lock people down, I am standing in your way,” said Mr DeSantis. “I am standing for the people of Florida.”
He also admitted that he did not expect to see “this many positive tests and some of the hospitalisations”, despite attacking lockdown and masking.
According to Florida Politics, when voters were asked in May whether they approved of Mr DeSantis, 55 per cent said yes, meaning his popularity has fallen by 11 per cent.
Covid has so far claimed the lives of more than 39,000 Floridians, and infected almost 2.7 million.
Additional reporting by Reuters.
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