Florida Influencer Poll: All things COVID-19

The emerging threat of the new coronavirus has dominated headlines and the back half of the 2020 Legislative Session, and Florida’s top political minds have opinions on several aspects of the public health emergency.

Asked how well the Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration has handled the crisis, two in five Florida Influencers gave him a “B.” Another 19% gave the Governor top marks, while a similar amount cast the executive branch’s response as merely average.

That leaves just 17% who found DeSantis’ leadership lacking, including 13% who tagged him with a “D” and 4% who outright flunked him.

It’s possible that Influencers’ opinions were swayed by the virus’ impact on their own travel plans — a whopping 45% said they’ve had to scrub some post-Session vacations because of COVID-19’s fast-growing foothold in the U.S.

And a not-insignificant number say they expect the global epidemic to bring the Legislature back to Tallahassee for a special Legislative Session.

About a fifth of Florida Influencers say lawmakers will call a special Session for the exclusive purpose of addressing COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. Another 16% said they expected the Legislature to clock in later this year to ratify a new Seminole Compact, while 17% expect a special Session to handle both issues.

Combined, more than half of experts polled don’t think Sine Die will stick.

On a lighter note, Florida Politics’ asked Influencers for their predictions on the March 17 Florida presidential primary.

Almost 90% said they expected former Vice President Joe Biden to win by double digits — 40% said the final margin would fall between 10 and 24 points, while 49% are expecting a 25-plus point rout in the head-to-head against U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.

The balance still think Biden will win — as do all recent polls of the race — though they’re predicting a single digit separation when all votes are counted.

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The Influencers who took part in this survey are: Jason Altmire, Phil Ammann, Allison Aubuchon, Tim Baker, Albert Balido, Geoffrey Becker, Wayne Bertsch, Amanda Bevis, Taylor Biehl, Katie Bohnett, Reggie Cardozo, Kevin Cate, Jim Cherry, Clayton Clemens, Josh Cooper, Javi Correoso, Husein Cumber, Karen Cyphers, Richard Denapoli, Pablo Diaz, Víctor Dimaio, Ryan Duffy, Pete Dunbar, Barry Edwards, Alia Faraj-Johnson, Peter Feaman, Mark Ferrulo, Marty Fiorentino, Matt Florell, Matt Floyd, Don Gaetz, Adam Giery, Julia Gill-Woodward, Pamela Goodman, Jennifer Green, Marion Hammer, Abel Harding, Madeline Holzmann, Lila Jaber, Nick Janovsky, Jeff Johnson, Rob Johnson, Eric Jotkoff, Fred Karlinsky, Joshua Karp, Natalie Kato, Micah Ketchel, Colin Kirkland, John Konkus, Jeff Kottkamp, Beth Lerner, Mckinley Lewis, Karis Lockhart, Shannon Love, John Lux, Jesse Manzano, Darrick McGhee, Kathy Mears, Ed Moore, Dan Newman, Sal Nuzzo, Rick Oppenheim, Meredith O’Rourke, Jenna Paladino, Anthony Pedicini, Fred Piccolo, Ron Pierce, Noah Pransky, Cissy Proctor, David Ramba, Jim Rimes, Franco Ripple, Ashley Ross, Evan Ross, Scott Ross, Elnatan Rudolph, Andrew Rutledge, Ron Sachs, Meagan Salisbury, Pierce Schuessler, Stephen Shiver, Steve Simeonidis, Alex Sink, Patrick Slevin, Mac Stipanovich, Eileen Stuart, Allison Tant, Cory Tilley, Kyle Ulrich, Christian Ulvert, Jenn Ungru, David Vasquez, Ashley Walker, Nancy Watkins, Screven Watson, Christian Weiss, Doug Wheeler, Susie Wiles, Alan Williams, Michael Worley, Skylar Zander, Christian Ziegler.