Staff Reports
Last Call — A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics.
Ed. Note — To celebrate the Fourth of July, Sunburn and Last Call are taking a brief hiatus — and will be back on Monday, July 8.
Enjoy your Independence Day, and thanks for your support!
First Shot
A new poll found mixed support for explosive Fourth of July celebrations in the Sunshine State.
The FAU Political Communication and Public Opinion Research Lab (PolCom) asked 961 Florida voters about regulating fireworks use and found opinions split. Twenty-seven percent said fireworks should not be allowed at all, while an equal number believed they should be legal, but their use was restricted to certain hours.
Additionally, 22% of voters said they are fine with fireworks if used responsibly. Only 5% of voters said there should be no restrictions on fireworks use, and 19% had no strong opinion on the issue.
The poll also broke down these results by various demographics, such as political party, ethnicity, age and gender.
Democrats were more likely to favor restrictions than Republicans, 31%- 23%. Republican voters were the most likely to say fireworks shouldn’t face any restrictions (7%) and that they were fine with fireworks so long as they were used responsibly (26%).
Women were more likely to favor restrictions than men, with 27% saying they shouldn’t be allowed at all compared to 24% of men. About one in three voters over 50 said fireworks should not be allowed — the most of any subgroup — and around 21% of voters under 50 agreed. By race, White voters were more likely to favor outlawing fireworks, with 32% support, followed by Hispanic voters at 25% and Black voters at 19%.
“Fireworks are a long-standing tradition for celebrations across the world, and here in the U.S. they are ubiquitous to American patriotism,” said Robert E Gutsche Jr., PolCom’s strategic lead and an associate professor at FAU.
“Around neighborhoods and across communities, there is always some feeling of apprehension about fireworks and their effects on pets, sleeping children and wildlife. It’s one of those things we may complain about but also recognize as being a symbol of unity.”
The results are part of a larger PolCom survey on how voters feel — “from joy and pride to sadness and fear,” the pollster teased — about their party’s presidential nominee. The full poll drops on Wednesday.
Evening Reads
—”What the polls say after the first presidential debate” via Geoffrey Skelley of FiveThirtyEight
—”A new national poll turns post-debate conventional wisdom on its head” via Philip Bump of The Washington Post
—”Are Democrats *actually* serious about Donald Trump’s threat to democracy? Nominating Joe Biden would suggest not” via Chris Cillizza of So What?
—”Biden’s lapses are increasingly common, according to some of those in the room” via Peter Baker, David E. Sanger, Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Katie Rogers of The New York Times
—”The absurdity of the Dump-Biden Uprising” via Stuart Stevens of The Atlantic
—”Do other Democrats actually do better against Trump than Biden?” via Christian Paz of Vox
—”Biden campaign tries to calm Democratic donors, lawmakers as criticism mounts” via Natalie Andrews, Catherine Lucey and Siobhan Hughes of The Wall Street Journal
—”Democratic Congressman Lloyd Doggett calls on Biden to withdraw from presidential race” via Matthew Choi of The Texas Tribune
—”Byron Donalds says Black vote for Trump ‘could go as high as 25%’ in November” via Mitch Perry of the Florida Phoenix
—”How did Black Americans do economically under Trump, Biden?” via Louis Jacobson of PolitiFact
—”A five-alarm fire for democracy” via Judd Legum of Popular Information
Quote of the Day
“Nobody wants to be the first one to knife Julius Caesar.”
— An unnamed Democratic Party official on elected Democrats calling for Biden to step aside.
Put It on the Tab
Look to your left, then look to your right. If you see one of these people at your happy hour haunt, flag down the bartender and put one of these on your tab. Recipes included, just in case the Cocktail Codex fell into the well.
U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan was snubbed last time he vied for the House Ways and Means chairmanship, but a couple of years later he may be ready for a Take Two.
The state’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit became the fourth law enforcement body to turn down a case against Jacksonville dentist Howard Fetner, so keep the Tooth Fairies coming — just don’t put them under his pillow; that would get messy fast.
The latest data from UF shows Florida consumer sentiment is on the upswing, but don’t order a Sunshine + Roses just yet — economic worries haven’t abated. Maybe a GINeralized Anxiety Disorder will take the edge off (it’s not our pun, blame BunnyEars)?
Breakthrough Insights
Tune In
Rays look to stay hot
Just past the halfway point of the season, the Tampa Bay Rays are right where they started, with as many wins as losses this season.
Tampa Bay has won eight of 11 games — their best streak of the season — and tonight, they (42-42) open a three-game series (8:10 p.m., Bally Sports Sun) against one of the more surprising teams of the season, the Kansas City Royals (47-39). If the season ended today, the Royals would be a wildcard team.
Tuesday begins the second series of the season between the two teams. In May, the Rays took two of three from the Royals at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.
How has Tampa Bay rallied over the past two weeks? In the last 11 games, the Rays’ pitching allowed three or fewer runs seven times. They had only accomplished the feat twice in the previous eight games.
Tonight, veteran right-hander Zach Littell gets the start in search of his third win of the season. Littell has not won a game since beating the New York Yankees on May 11, although the Rays won three of the five games he started in June, including an 11-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners on June 25, his last start.
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Last Call is published by Peter Schorsch, assembled and edited by Phil Ammann and Drew Wilson, with contributions from the staff of Florida Politics.
