Jacob Ogles
Political expert Susan McManus said issues about the environment won’t disappear from Florida politics soon.
“It’s always been a top 10 issue in Florida,” she said. “But it’s moved here now to routinely being a top 1, 2 or 3 issue.”
McManus, retired University of South Florida professor of political science, spoke to business leaders at a luncheon for the Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota County. She said that younger voters in particular list concern about the environment as a top factor in voting decisions.
In Florida, environmental interests vary by region. South Floirda cares about sea level rise, Southwest Florida about red tide blooms and the Panhandle about lionfish. But in all parts of the state, maintaining an attractive environment remains important to voters.
Voters from Generation X, millennials and Generation Z age groups already make up the majority of voters in Florida based on voter registration, she said.
While Baby Boomers make up 32 percent of Florida voters, still the largest single demographic. But Generation X makes up 24 percent and Millennials another 24 percent, with Generation Z already coming in around 5 percent.
Already, she said, the make-up of individuals running for office has changed, and Florida boasts its first all-Generation X Cabinet.
The 2018 election also delivered Florida the first majority female Cabinet; Attorney General Ashley Moody and Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried outnumber Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis 2-to-1.
But the younger generations also represent a more demographically diverse population than Florida typically knows. A majority of young voters are people of color, she said. Female voters also show more political interest and activity among younger demographics, she said.
While younger voters do tend to vote Democratic more often than Republican, the big shifts worth noting come in the way the voters see the world, McManus said. And the political outlook as young voters “forever mold how you look at things,” she said.
Two-thirds of Americans believe in climate change, McManus said, and that’s especially true of younger voters.
In Sarasota, state Sen. Joe Gruters concurred that the environment loomed larger this year than elections of the past. The Sarasota Republican said his party would have had less success in November if not for the fact red tide blooms largely dissipated a few weeks before the election.
“Democrats pointed out in these campaigns you had election year environmentalists,” Gruters said. “You were right. That’s never been an issue in Sarasota that anybody cared about.”
But this year it proved a major factor.
McManus expects that to be a new norm, and she suggested that’s why Gov. Ron DeSantis made water quality and environmental action such a priority coming into office.
“When you win by the narrowest of narrow margins, and you look at age, ethnicity and political leanings of voters, the newly elected governor is very smart to expand his base if he wants to get re-elected,” she said.
