DeSantis plugs comeback message
As cases in state tick down, governor works to put pandemic in the rearview mirror
Gov. Ron DeSantis has been crisscrossing Florida and handing the microphone to coaches ready to play ball, brewers eager to pour pints again, and a doctor with controversial views who has the president’s ear.
The story DeSantis wants to tell: Florida has the novel coronavirus under control, and the state’s quarantine-weary everyday Joes and Janes think it’s time to get back to normal.
Florida’s tourism-based economy is firing back up, and better days are ahead, DeSantis has stressed in panel discussions held from Miami to Jacksonville.
“We will never do any of these lockdowns again,” DeSantis said during a stop in The Villages. “I hear people say they will shut down the country, and honestly I cringe.”
The governor’s efforts to put COVID-19 in the rear-view mirror come as President Donald Trump and his Democratic opponent Joe Biden are effectively tied in Florida ahead of the Nov. 3 election.
Biden has portrayed Trump as prolonging America’s suffering by mismanaging the crisis. DeSantis is hoping to paint a more optimistic picture. On Friday night,
DeSantis watched a high school football game in North Florida.
Trump’s reelection effort is hitting a similar note, holding “Great American Comeback” roundtable discussions with business leaders in Miami Lakes and Tampa last week.
And for medical advice, DeSantis invited the White House’s new pandemic adviser Dr. Scott Atlas to join him at events. Atlas holds views that frequently clash with
other national COVID advisers, such as Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Atlas, a neuroradiologist and frequent Fox News guest, supports a libertarian COVID-19 strategy and has minimized the risk the virus poses to children returning to classrooms.
Governor’s image took a hit
Before the coronavirus pandemic, DeSantis ranked as one of the most popular governors in the country. As the state’s case numbers climbed and deaths mounted, his popularity sagged.
His approval rating fell from 53% in April to 41% in late July, according to Quinnipiac University polling. The approval rating crept back up to 45% as the pace of new infections slowed, the most recent poll released Thursday shows.
Florida’s COVID-19 death toll has now passed 11,600.
An astounding 60% of people surveyed were tuning into DeSantis’ briefings early on in the pandemic, said Joshua Scacco, a University of South Florida professor who studies political messaging.
“Perceptions of political leaders in this pandemic were shaped quite early,” Scacco said. “That March, April and May period was so critical. That applies to Gov. DeSantis. That applies to President Trump. It hurt him and his standing being tied so closely to President Trump.”
State Sen. Lori Berman, a Democrat from Boca Raton, said Floridians shouldn’t be fooled by DeSantis’ latest road show.
“It sounds great that we can return to normal,” she said. “That is the message we are hearing from Washington also, but I worry about the reality of this quote, ‘return of normalcy.’ I am concerned we are going to see cases spike again. We need to listen to the science, metrics and medical data before we try to open up more businesses.”
Berman said DeSantis is missing that the health of Florida’s economy is directly connected to the health of its residents: “Until we get coronavirus under control, we can’t get our economy back to the point where it was before to where it can flourish,” she said.
Trusted public health experts often have been absent from DeSantis’ messaging, and Florida’s surgeon general Dr. Scott Rivkees has been sidelined during much of the pandemic, Berman said. Rivkees, who specializes in pediatrics, was appointed to the position despite not having an extensive background in public health.
Atlas, the White House’s new adviser, is not an epidemiologist or infectious disease expert.
DeSantis passes the mic
One of the hallmarks of DeSantis’ communications strategy is letting Floridians do the talking.
He’s hosted several panel discussions that have touched on college sports, reopening classrooms, tourism, mental health and bars.
During the events, DeSantis takes on the role of talk show host. He typically makes some brief remarks and then turns the microphone over to panelists to help him make his case.
■ At a St. Petersburg brewery on Thursday, DeSantis sat in a room lined with barrels and listened to bar owners and craft brewers. Nobody on the panel wore masks. “It’s still OK to have a good time. It’s still OK to go out to eat,” said Pete Boland, who owns a nauticalthemed tavern named The Galley. “You probably have a greater risk driving to the restaurant than you do dining at the restaurant.”
■ At the University of North Florida last month, DeSantis mused that he’d like to see Florida and Florida State play football. The panel included well-known former Florida athletes and coaches. Florida State Heisman Trophy winner and former NBA player Charlie Ward touted the benefits sports provide to youths. “Being a student-athlete definitely taught me a lot about teamwork, how to relate to one another, discipline” he said.
■ At a Tampa-area charter school, guidance counselor Elissa Wiley voiced her support for restarting in-person learning, “I’m sending my kids back to school because I believe that they will be safe and I will do everything I can to come to work and to be there for the kids that need me here with all of these social and emotional issues that we’re seeing, the depression, the anxiety,” she said.
Newman behind the message
DeSantis has a new person helping him craft his message.
Fred Piccolo, 42, the governor’s communications director, got his start in politics driving former Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris around the state. Harris is best known for the role she played overseeing elections during the infamous 2000 recount.
Most recently, Piccolo worked for Rep. Jose Oliva, the speaker of the Florida House, and his predecessor Richard Corcoran, who is now Florida’s education commissioner.
Piccolo admires Andrew Jackson and keeps an old black-and-white photograph of the seventh president of the United States hanging in his office. When he was 39, Piccolo was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. He said that keeps him from taking himself and his work too seriously.
Piccolo said he thinks the public needs to see more of the emotion and empathy that DeSantis has shown in private.
“Unequivocally, he cares deeply how this virus has impacted people,” Piccolo said. “They need to see that he does care. People like to see a humanity in their leaders that perhaps wasn’t out there.”
That was on display during a discussion on Tuesday. DeSantis choked up when talking about how hard it has been for Floridians to be separated from loved ones in nursing homes.
Piccolo said he admires the communication skills of a former governor whose folksy charisma took him all theway to the White House.
“With Bill Clinton it was, ‘I feel your pain,’” he said. “You should feel people’s pain.”