Politics

Poll shows Florida GOP voters strongly support Ron DeSantis and Special Session call

Published

2 weeks ago

January 17, 2025

New polling suggests Republican voters strongly support Gov. Ron DeSantis’ call for a Special Session. It also shows the Legislature enjoys much softer public support than the Governor.

The Tyson Group, a respected firm that notably worked for DeSantis’ presidential campaign, said the Governor enjoys a 91% approval rating among likely Republican Primary voters, with 79% strongly approving.

Moreover, the poll found immigration and border security as a top issue for a plurality of those voters (38%). By comparison, improving the economy came in second, the top issue of 20% of those polled, while 11% consider reducing inflation their top priority.

DeSantis said the primary reason he wants Florida lawmakers in town for a Special Session is to approve legislation to empower President-elect Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda. The poll found 85% support DeSantis’ Special Session call, with 72% strongly backing it.

“The results indicate a strong desire for legislative action,” wrote pollster Ryan Tyson.

But legislative leaders have pushed back on rushing into a Special Session. A memo from Senate President Ben Albritton and House Speaker Daniel Perez issued a memo hours after the Special Session announcement calling it “completely irresponsible” to take up immigration before Trump takes office and delivers specific policy guidance.

Notably, Trump later said he supports DeSantis’ Special Session call.

Tyson’s poll asked voters about the urgency of a Session. About 72% supported acting now, with 65% saying they “definitely” want immediate action. Meanwhile, only 18% feel lawmakers should wait to take up the issue during the Regular Session in March. About 10% said the issue should definitely wait.

But beyond the issue and urgency, Florida Republicans also simply have less sympathy for the Legislature than DeSantis.

The poll found 65% of like Republican Primary voters do approve of the job the GOP-controlled Legislature is doing, but that’s substantially lower support than DeSantis enjoys. The support certainly is stronger than for Congress, with 69% disapproving of the work being done by lawmakers in Washington.

But Tyson noted that the support for state lawmakers appears hollow.

“Their support is soft with only 32% strongly approving and 25% of voters expressing uncertainty,” Tyson wrote.

Pollsters surveyed 600 likely Republican voters on Jan. 14 and 15. The poll was conducted for The American Promise.

FL GOP Primary Survey Pre-Session Memo by Jacob Ogles on Scribd

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Politics

Gov. DeSantis teases budget proposals, including tax cuts and Highway Patrol pay hike

Published

28 minutes ago

January 31, 2025

May Greene

‘They’ve done a lot of missions in addition to just the normal stuff. So they deserve that.’

While formal budget and spending proposals aren’t available yet, Gov. Ron DeSantis says they’re coming by the “end of the weekend” as required.

And though he was true to his word when he told a Destin audience that he was “not going to necessarily go into a lot of it” on Friday, DeSantis mentioned some ways he wanted to help people keep more of their money.

On at least one of them, Floridians will be able to make that decision if DeSantis gets his way.

He said that “any taxes we can eliminate” are up for grabs, including a move to “crack down on property taxes in the state” through a constitutional amendment on next year’s ballot.

“Homestead deduction needs to dramatically increase for people,” DeSantis said, given the increasingly high cost of housing driven by “demand” and other factors, including insurance rates.

The administration will “be working over the next year, year and a half to see what we can present for voters to be able to vote in the next election for some major, major property tax limitations and relief,” along with “some other tax stuff.”

Spending will increase in one way, meanwhile, with proposed pay increases for highway patrol troopers pending in light of deployments to the Mexican border.

“They’ve done a lot of missions in addition to just the normal stuff. So they deserve that, and we’re going to make sure that we get that done,” DeSantis said.

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Tom Fabricio measure would keep some complaints against law enforcement, correction officers confidential

Published

59 minutes ago

January 31, 2025

May Greene

Law enforcement officers and correctional officers could have certain complaints lodged against them kept off their records if a new bill filed Thursday passes.

Miami Lakes Republican Rep. Tom Fabricio’s measure (HB 317) would exempt records of any investigations made into complaints against a law enforcement officer or a correctional officer from their personnel file under certain conditions.

Complaints filed against officers would be required to be given under oath and submitted in writing, and if an officer is subject to an interrogation that could lead to disciplinary action, then all information related to the investigation would have to be given to the officer or their representative before any interrogation into the allegations could begin, according to the bill.

That would include the names of the person or persons who filed the complaint, all witness statements, and any supporting evidence such as incident reports, GPS locator information, and video and audio recordings.

Florida statute currently states, “all information obtained pursuant to the investigation by the agency of the complaint is confidential,” and is exempt from public record until the investigation “ceases to be active” or until the agency decides whether to file charges against the officer.

The measure would amend that statute, adding that the officer be “provided a copy of the complaint signed by the complainant under oath before the effective date of the action.”

Current law already allows officers facing disciplinary action the right to address the findings with their respective agency heads before any disciplinary action can be imposed.

However, the new measure would allow such records to be left out of an officer’s personnel file if the investigation into their conduct did not end in disciplinary action. Furthermore, the existence of the investigation would not affect an officer’s ability to be promoted, get a pay raise, or receive a commendation.

Under the bill, the contents of both the complaint and the investigation would remain confidential until a final determination is made by investigators. The bill does not guarantee continued employment for officers under investigation.

The bill would further protect law enforcement and correctional officers protections by establishing penalties against those who make false complaints. Under the bill, someone found guilty of filing a false complaint could be charged with a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison.

If passed, the bill would become law on July 1.

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Gov. DeSantis ready to ‘get in the game’ of migrant transfers to GITMO

Published

2 hours ago

January 31, 2025

May Greene

President Trump has ordered the Cuba-based detention center to be prepped for full capacity as part of his deportation push.

Saying Guantánamo Bay is a “hell of a lot closer” to Florida than Martha’s Vineyard, Ron DeSantis reiterated interest in sending migrants there in accordance with a Donald Trump executive order.

“I think it’d be a great place, quite frankly, to have criminal aliens,” DeSantis said Friday in Destin, adding that Florida is “going to be able to assist” moving undocumented immigrants to the base in Cuba.

The Governor has made this case all week that the state is a logical launching pad for deportations.

DeSantis posted to social media Wednesday that he’s “happy to send flights from Florida down that way with deportees in tow,” in the wake of Trump saying he’s telling the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to “begin preparing the 30,000 person migrant facility at Guantánamo Bay” for an influx of undocumented immigrants.

“What better state to take advantage of that than the state of Florida,” he told podcaster Dave Rubin Tuesday.

DeSantis also said this week “deputized” state forces who can “make the same decisions” as Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the Border Patrol could also “take them back to Haiti or the Bahamas or wherever they are coming from, right on the spot” if they “intercept them on the sea.”

The Trump Executive Order calls “to expand the Migrant Operations Center at Naval Station Guantánamo Bay to full capacity to provide additional detention space for high-priority criminal aliens unlawfully present in the United States, and to address attendant immigration enforcement needs … in order to halt the border invasion, dismantle criminal cartels, and restore national sovereignty.”

It does not contemplate a state role in extradition or extraterritorial transport.

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