At one point, it seemed that the 2024 general election was potentially going to be between President Joe Biden and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL). That of course didn't pan out, though Florida still plays a relevant role for November. Biden and his fellow Democrats actually think the Sunshine State is in play, largely because of pro-abortion and pro-marijuana initiatives on the ballot this year. While such ballots have performed well elsewhere, even in red states, Florida has a 60 percent threshold requirement. They also have a pro-life governor.
Ahead of Biden's campaign event in his state, DeSantis was giving remarks on expanding the wildlife corridor there. He also took the chance to call out the president. "I hear that Joe Biden is on his way to Florida this afternoon," the governor said on Tuesday. "All I can say is this is a guy who has intentionally opened the borders of this country, caused great harm."
DeSantis also called Biden out for the abortion issue specifically. "His policies have caused families to suffer, with higher prices and higher interest rates, and now he's coming down to try to support a constitutional amendment that will mandate abortion up until the moment of birth, that will eliminate parental consent for minors, and that's written in a way that's intentionally designed to deceive voters," he warned. "So all I can tell you is Floridians are not buying what Joe Biden is selling, and in November, we're going to play an instrumental role in sending him back to Delaware where he belongs," he concluded to applause.
DESANTIS RESPONDS to @JoeBiden's expected speech on abortion in Florida today:
— Bryan Griffin (@BryanDGriffin) April 23, 2024
"Floridians are not buying what Joe Biden is selling, and in November, we're going to play an instrumental role in sending him back to Delaware where he belongs." -@GovRonDeSantis pic.twitter.com/2GyoQKXeNK
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Although the president has been speaking out against Florida's pro-life laws and in favor of the pro-abortion initiative for weeks, he went even further with his appearance in Tampa on Tuesday for a campaign event. Guy's already covered some of the more amusing and awkward moments.
Besides the flub, there was plenty of fearmongering and lying on the abortion issue, as Biden and the Biden HQ X account are prone to doing, including but not only on this emotional issue. To make matters worse, the supposedly devout Catholic president went viral for crossing himself at the event with other pro-abortion Democrats, as Nick Arama at our sister site of RedState covered. The Catholic Church has taken an abundantly clear stance against abortion.
And yet Biden still had the nerve to use the Bible against former and potentially future President Donald Trump, making a dig about how he announced during Holy Week last month he was selling a Bible he endorsed.
This. Is. VILE!
— CatholicVote (@CatholicVote) April 23, 2024
President Biden makes the Sign of the Cross at an abortion rally in Florida!
You cannot be Catholic and support abortion!
You cannot invoke GOD and promote Death! pic.twitter.com/aG4P542EM0
While Biden and his fellow abortion-obsessed Democrats want to focus on such an issue, which they already have an edge on, he's shied away from mentioning the consequences of open borders that DeSantis mentioned. It's not hard to see why, as RealClearPolling has Biden with just a 32.2 percent approval rating on immigration, while 63.5 percent disapprove of his handling of the issue.
Multiple polls also show voters prefer Trump more on the immigration issue, and that it's not close. While abortion may matter more to the Democratic base, immigration is more of a top-of-mind issue for voters overall.
For all of Biden's hopes about winning back Florida, the sparsely-attended campaign event, with photos and clips making their way across X, is one more factor that doesn't exactly help those chances.
Said Joe Biden to the Florida Democrats' impressive showing of 19 voters. https://t.co/qWThhQkkdP
— Bryan Griffin (@BryanDGriffin) April 24, 2024
Trump, who has already earned enough delegates to be the presumptive Republican nominee, won Florida in 2016 and 2020. He won in 2016 with 49 percent to Hillary Clinton's 47.8 percent. DeSantis also won his 2018 gubernatorial race by a particularly narrow margin. The state has since become reliably redder, however. Trump won Florida again in 2020, this time with 51.2 percent to Biden's 47.9 percent. Even while the rest of the country might not have experienced the red wave that had been predicted in 2022, DeSantis won reelection by historic margins, with close to 60 percent, a lead of nearly 20 points over Charlie Crist, running as a Democrat this time.
Polling from earlier this month by Emerson College showed that Trump has 51 percent support to Biden's 38 percent among registered voters. Eleven percent were undecided. When those undecided voters were pushed to choose one of the two, Trump led by almost the same margin, 56-44 percent.
The poll also showed that a plurality support the abortion ballot initiative, with 42 percent. It's nowhere near that 60 percent threshold, though.
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