Melissa Ross
One of the state’s leading pollsters says Republican legislators may live to regret seeing Florida’s redistricting mess turned over to the courts.
“There is absolute risk,” says Mike Binder, University of North Florida political science professor and lead pollster at the school’s Public Opinion Research Laboratory.
“While the Senate is willing to compromise, the House is saying ‘We’re taking our ball and going home. We’re willing to just let the judge pick between our map or your map.’ The problem is, if they send this to the courts, it’s possible the courts could take it entirely and just start from scratch. Which could leave the Republicans in a very difficult situation.”
“Really what it speaks to is a lack of leadership within the Republican Party in the state of Florida.”
Binder made his comments during an appearance on WJCT’s First Coast Connect, fielding call after call from frustrated voters suggesting that legislators, after yet another unproductive Special Session, should be paid to stay home instead of going to Tallahassee, or more realistically, that the redistricting process redrawing the state’s congressional maps should be thrown to an independent commission (something other states have adopted).
Binder points out that in 1992, a Florida redistricting stalemate that ended up going to the judiciary ended with Democrats ceding control of the state to the GOP for a generation.
“Right now the Republicans are advantaged 17-10. With these proposed maps, it’s maybe 16-11. But you can draw lines in any number of ways. Potentially, you could draw these lines to get Democrats to 14-13, or even Democrats with 14 seats.”
