It’s Tuesday, the traditional day for elections and for our pause-and-consider newsletter on politics and policy.   

Photo by Hannah Beier/Reuters
LET’S TALK ABOUT RON DESANTIS
By Lisa Desjardins, @LisaDNews ([link removed])
Correspondent

With two coasts, 14 hours of driving from end to end and 14 million registered votes, the Sunshine State is a political force that takes time to process. But for any election watcher, it is important to try.

Say the same of its governor – Ron DeSantis. Quickly on the rise, his name is second only to former President Donald Trump’s when Republican voters are asked about 2024.

And today, as Florida goes to the polls for primaries, DeSantis is flexing some muscle, with an unmistakable mark in races ([link removed]) across the state and in the Democratic context to oppose his reelection. We sensed an opportunity to take a closer look.

What do we know about him? In brief:
* Childhood: DeSantis' mom worked as a critical care nurse. His dad installed Nielsen ratings boxes. (He has said he is more like his mom ([link removed]) , who he described as “even-keeled.”)
* Religion: Catholic
* Education: Catholic and public schools as a kid. Yale University undergraduate. Harvard Law School.
* Military: He was an active duty U.S. Navy JAG officer, and is now in the U.S. Navy Reserve. Service included Iraq deployment. Recipient of the Bronze Star.
* Career: Federal prosecutor. Elected to Congress in 2012. Elected governor of Florida in 2018.

Key issues and core politics

There is much to say about the politics and policy of Gov. DeSantis. Just the scores of laws he has signed could spark a long day of conversation. But keeping to our mission, here is a short look at his central facets.
* Trump. DeSantis is a staunch defender and ally of the former president, garnering national attention for this 2018 ad ([link removed]) with his kids.
* Schools. DeSantis has made education and closely-related cultural issues a centerpiece of his agenda. He describes his approach as governor as “pro-parent … pro-student” and has repeatedly clashed with parent groups, teachers and school districts, which differ with him, often along an ideological divide.
* COVID. For most of the pandemic, DeSantis pushed against mask mandates and school closures.
* Books. DeSantis signed a bill giving parents more say, and the ability to object, to books they consider inappropriate in schools.
* Sex and gender. DeSantis signed a bill that prohibits teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity that is “not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students" in third grade or below. Critics, who called the measure the “Don’t Say Gay” law, say that could be used to block mere mention of the existence of LGBTQ people, as well as makes the lives of LGBTQ youth, especially transgender and nonbinary students, harder ([link removed]) . Supporters deny that. DeSantis has said it is not appropriate to teach kids "they can be whatever they want to be."
* Race. His “Stop W.O.K.E. Act” aims to block teaching of and required employee training on some concepts about race, including the idea of white privilege. The law has faced several court challenges and a judge last week blocked portions of it, blasting it as coming from a “distorted version of our world.”
* Abortion. Under DeSantis, the state enacted a law banning most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. That law is being challenged in courts.
* The 2020 election. DeSantis condemned the Jan. 6th Capitol riot, but has not given a definitive answer on whether he believes the 2020 election was stolen, as Trump has falsely claimed.

How do voters see him?

In Florida. DeSantis has generally had good approval ratings as governor. But, not uncommon in an election year, those have slid – from 58 percent in February to 50 percent now ([link removed]) in polls conducted by the University of North Florida’s Public Opinion Research Lab.

That poll has him leading either of his potential Democratic opponents for governor by 7 or 8 points currently. But, significantly, those head-to-head margins are much closer than they were in February, when DeSantis had a 20-point advantage.

On the other hand, check this out: In this poll ([link removed]) on hypothetical 2024 matchups, DeSantis stepped ahead of his potential GOP rival, and now-fellow Floridian, Trump in this latest poll of state voters, 47 percent to 45 percent.

Nationally. This data – and our own talks with Republican voters – are why we wanted to focus on DeSantis at this moment.

For months, polls have indicated that Republican voters, while still approving of Trump in general, are open to other choices. And DeSantis is far in front among them.
* A July poll ([link removed]) from The New York Times and Siena College found just 49 percent of Republican voters chose Trump out of a field of five potential 2024 candidates. DeSantis was No. 2, with 25 percent.
* He was even more popular in a Suffolk University/USA Today poll ([link removed]) that same month, which showed DeSantis with 34 percent to 42 for Trump in a field of candidates. When voters were asked about their first *and* second choices for president, DeSantis was actually more popular than Trump. Meaning, DeSantis is someone more people are considering voting for – either as their first or second choice – than Trump.
* Who are his voters? In our August PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll ([link removed]) , those with the most favorable impression of DeSantis were white evangelicals (47 percent favorable) and parents of school-age kids (42 percent). There is a different, revealing split in the New York Times August poll: College-educated Republican voters backed DeSantis over Trump, 32 to 28. A solid 50 percent of those without bachelor’s degrees stood behind Trump.

#POLITICSTRIVIA
By Matt Loffman, @mattloff ([link removed])
Politics Producer

Joshua Barajas, @Josh_Barrage ([link removed])
Senior Editor, Digital

Recent polling has found Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis neck-and-neck with Donald Trump ([link removed]) in a hypothetical matchup for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.

We’re still quite a bit away from the 2024 election, but we thought to look into which states produced the most U.S. presidents.

Virginia, not too surprisingly, is the most common birthplace for U.S. presidents – with eight states total. Followed by Ohio (7), New York (5, including Trump), and Massachusetts (4).

And since it’s Florida’s primary ([link removed]) today …

Our question: How many U.S. presidents were born in Florida?

Send your answers to [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) or tweet using #PoliticsTrivia. The first correct answers will earn a shout-out next week.

Last week, we asked: Who was the first woman to be elected governor of Wyoming and in what year was she elected?

The answer: Nellie Tayloe Ross ([link removed]) , in 1924. Her husband was the governor and died in office. She was elected in a special election the following month.

Congratulations to our winners: Rosalind Hanckel and Carole Jean Stockton!

Thank you all for reading and watching. We’ll drop into your inbox next week.
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