- [Announcer] This is a production of WEDU PBS, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota.

- [Announcer] Coming up next, independents make up an increasing share of voters in Florida, and with Democrats and Republicans more firmly divided than almost any time in our history, independent and no party affiliated voters could hold the key to who wins the November general election.

On this edition of "Florida This Week", we'll talk with independent voters from the bay area, to get insight on what issues motivate them as we near election day 2022.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - Welcome to a special edition of "Florida This Week".

This election season, candidates are searching for persuadable voters, that is voters who are not strongly aligned with either major political party.

A rising number of Floridians are choosing to register as members of third parties or no party at all.

According to the latest numbers across the state, about 5.2 million Floridians are registered as Republicans.

Democrats have slightly less, just under 5 million members.

The number of people who are independent of either party has been rising in recent years.

It's now almost 4.2 million Floridians.

In an election, the battle for voters often concentrates on either revving up the turnout from your own party, or winning the persuadables.

A poll taken last month for the AARP found that in the governor's race, persuadable voters make up about 11% here in Florida.

While in the U.S. Senate race, persuadables make up 19% of likely voters.

Here in WEDU's studio, we've assembled a group of six independent voters who've chosen to register with neither major political party.

We wanna find out their positions on the candidates, and the issues, and how they will make up their minds for the November election.

Joining us now are Kelly, who is a graduate student in St. Petersburg.

Dennis is an attorney in Tampa.

Howard is a graphic designer in St. Petersburg.

Josh is an associate pastor and coach in Pinellas Park.

Mona is a hairstylist in Wesley Chapel, and Vince is a business owner in St. Petersburg.

Welcome to all of you.

Great to see you, and thank you for spending your time with us here today.

I want to ask you about the elections.

First of all, this election could be up to folks like you, the independents and the so-called persuadables.

Are you likely, I'd like to see a show of hands, are you likely to vote this November?

Raise your hand, if you are.

Everybody's likely to vote.

And Josh, let me start with you.

Are you following the news about the November election, closely?

- There's certain pieces that I would say I'm following, more than others.

Certain things I feel affect my community specifically, and watching those aspects first.

- [Rob] Kelly, how about you?

Are you following the election closely?

- Closely?

I'm definitely watching what the candidates are doing and what they're saying closely, but more listening to what they're saying, not necessarily one news in particular.

- [Rob] And Vince, how about you?

- Yeah, I would say I'm following pretty closely.

- [Rob] How do you follow?

What sources do you trust?

- I trust all sources, but verify independently.

- [Rob] And Mona, how about you?

Are you following the election closely?

- I am actually I'm following it.

I go to debates, when they have forums, I'm doing that.

I'm part of a group that even bring in candidates.

So yes, I am, following it.

- [Rob] And Dennis, how about you?

- It's difficult not to be inundated with all kinds of news from every possible source.

So yes, I'm kept informed.

- [Rob] I wanna ask all of you, is there a news source you don't trust?

Is there something that you avoid as a news source?

You're laughing.

- I mean, there are so many, I dunno if we want to name names, but like- - [Rob] You can name names.

- Yeah, I'm gonna say anything that panders, either to the far left or the far right, is completely off my list.

So your Breitbarts, your Fox Newses, anyone who's not trying to actually just present straight information, or not that I'm a humongous fan of like, oh, we need to portray both sides of every issue, but someone who clearly has an agenda in how they report the news.

It's like, I'm just not interested in how they do that at all.

- [Rob] Vince, would you agree with that?

- I would say there's a lot of editorial journalism, where instead of reporting the news, like Walter Cronkite would just give you here's the facts.

There's a lot of pontificating from TV hosts that try to deliver the news instead of telling you what it is.

- [Rob] Is there a TV source that you don't trust?

- I mean, I watch CNN, MSNBC, Fox News.

I watch it all and then make my own conclusions, based off everything I hear from all sides.

- And Dennis, what do you think about that?

- At the risk of being labeled a liberal, I don't trust anything that Fox News says, because most of it is so easily disputed factually, so.

- [Rob] Mona?

- So, when I look at those MSNB, Fox News, CNN, it almost as if it's opinionated, instead of the news.

So I look at a little bit of both.

I might have a host that I like on Fox that I check out, but I'm sometimes in the kitchen saying, yeah, that's not right, you know?

Yeah.

- [Rob] Josh, how about you?

- You know, just kind of agreeing with everybody, a lot of the sources, you know, we could say Facebook is the news then.

If we're gonna go that way, right.

Because a lot of the information that we're receiving, is it really news or is it just persuaded information?

Is it someone's opinion?

Is it a director backstage?

Who said, Hey, you know what?

Like, that's the way the cookie crumbles.

This is a great idea.

And it's gonna get a bunch of viewers, but is it intentional?

Is it reality?

Is it what's really going on?

And I think that, unfortunately we've kind of lost that piece where it's all about, you know, getting the viewers, being popular, being what's on demand, instead of relaying what's really going on.

So a lot of people who watch the news are still uninformed.

- Let's talk about Florida for a little bit.

Who thinks the state is on the right track?

Let's see a show of hands, state is on the right track.

We got, we got two and a half.

Who thinks the state is on the wrong track?

We got one definite, maybe a possible one and a half.

Let's start with the right track.

Vince, why do you think the state's on the right track?

- Unemployment is lowest than it's been since before COVID.

You've had extreme population growth over the last two, three years where tons of states are losing population.

You have a strong housing market, strong economy.

You have Fortune 500 companies moving into Florida.

So it's not just my opinion.

It's it seems like everybody else across the country is moving to Florida, starting business here, buying real estate here.

So it's, well get the signs.

- [Rob] Dennis, you were, you don't agree.

Why?

Why not?

- Well, I think that the population increase in this state, as a lifelong Floridian, isn't necessarily such a great thing.

And perhaps that's just my own point of view, that leads to other issues, and other problems.

I think politically the state of Florida is heading in a very wrong direction.

I think that's largely a product of how partisan the electoral climate has become not only in Florida, but in the country.

- Let's talk about another issue regarding Florida.

If you were to look at all the issues that we face, and we talked a little bit about some of the issues.

If you look at inflation, if you look at the environment, if you look at transportation, if you look at jobs, and taxes, and education, what's the most pressing issue in the state of Florida, for you as a voter?

When you go into the booth, and you pick a member of the legislature, or you vote for somebody for Congress, or you vote for somebody for governor, what's the most pressing issue to you?

Kelly, can I start with you?

- For me right now, it's education.

I have young children in school, and just watching some of the laws that have been passed lately, just, I don't think they're good for education.

- [Rob] Why don't you think those laws are good?

What do they do?

- Telling people not to talk about things, telling children not to talk?

I don't think that's a good direction at all.

I don't think we should ever be limiting their conversation at all.

- [Rob] So you're talking about the prohibitions on critical race theory, and what can be said about the GLBTQ community in education.

- Yes.

- Yeah.

Mona, what do you, what's the most pressing issue in Florida for you?

- So right now, number one would be inflation.

Insurance is going up property insurance, homeowners insurance, taxes, those things are right now.

And when they were talking about how good Florida is doing, people moving here, which is good, but you got houses now that's going for five, six, $700,000.

Maybe three years ago, would've been three or 400,000.

So people coming from up north coming down, and it is driving the Floridians, you know, housing market is crazy.

- [Rob] Josh, what's the most pressing issue for you as you go to the polls in November?

- Man, there's a lot of pieces, from what I do in the community, and what I've been blessed to be a part of.

I believe in my standpoint, as well, working with youth in the community as work is working through ministry in the community, there's a lot of pieces that affect what we would say, the village in a lot of different pieces, in a lot of different ways.

You know, we're looking at education, you know, what's going on in the classroom, how are teachers being treated?

You know, why are we losing teachers?

Unemployment out an all time low, right.

But, we're missing a lot of teachers.

You know, in one county there's 260 openings right now.

Like that's a problem.

So looking at the education advocacy, and where they stand on that.

One of the biggest things for me, especially representing the brown and black community, is what they're gonna do law enforcement wise, and where they stand on certain views, as far as that goes, and how that affects our community.

So I think now more than ever, and I'm a young guy, I would say, not too much old, but I, I would say in my young age or in my time, I would say that this is one of the elections that is really pressing towards what we look like as a community going forward, and who we really decide is gonna be our leaders.

- So I want to ask you specifically about candidates in the governor's race.

Who's made up their mind about how they're gonna vote in the governor's race already?

Who has already selected a candidate?

Raise your hand 1, 2, 3, 4. Who's not selected a candidate in the governor's race?

Mona, why haven't you selected a candidate?

- Cause I'm on the fence with the De Santis and Democrats.

They like to repeat.

I'm not really a fan of Charlie Christ.

And sometimes it almost seem you're gonna be forced to go that way, but I'm going.

- [Rob] Why aren't you a fan of Charlie Christ?

- It's quite a few things I'm not liking.

I'm not liking the CRT.

I'm not liking the abortion ban, and just what he did last week with the migrants, and these kind of stunts.

- [Rob] So you're talking about DeSantis.

- DeSantis.

- Okay.

- Yes, why I'm not- Oh, you asked me why I'm not a fan of Charlie Christ.

He doesn't know what he really wanna do.

And he's already been, he almost remind me of Biden, our president, so- yeah, I'm not, but I'm probably gonna vote for him.

- So, Howard, let me ask you, can I ask if the election were held today, would you vote for Charlie Christ for governor, or would you vote for Ron DeSantis for governor?

- I feel like, even though I'm not necessarily a Charlie Christ fan, and actually I don't wanna be a fan of any politician.

They're not, they're just the guy that, to me, it's like, they're just the guy that runs the state.

They're not like I'm not looking up to them.

I don't expect my kids to look.

They're just people, they have a job to do.

And I want 'em to do their job.

At this point, I kind of have to vote for Charlie Christ.

'Cause my biggest thing when I go to the polls to vote for anyone is like, is this person insane?

Or are they normal?

And will they actually do the things that we will, they do the job that we've given them to do, that we're asking them to do, that they've put themselves up to do.

Will they represent everybody in the state of Florida, and look out for everyone, or will they look out after their own interests, and just the people that they like, and that like them?

And at this point, it's kind of like the Joe Biden thing.

It's like, I wasn't necessarily a humongous fan for Joe Biden as a presidential candidate.

There were probably other people that were just as good.

But given the choice, you know, we always, for years we've always talked about like how politicians, it's a lesser of two evils, and that's where we are, again.

- [Rob] It sounds like you have an agreement with Mona on that.

- Yeah, to an extent it's like almost like- - Default, and I don't like that.

- Yeah.

It's like, I don't need to see the same person or the same family, like over and over again.

We don't have Kings and Queens here.

It's like, you know, when we had a litany of Bushes throughout Florida, and then they're like, okay, that's, I'm good with that.

We can, let's skip that.

We can get somebody else.

But yeah, at the end it's like, who do I think is, I have to ask myself, who do I think is gonna look out for everyone?

And for me, that choice is clear.

I may not love everything that Charlie Christ has done, or will do, but I feel like he will probably represent everybody in the state of Florida, since he's straddled that line of Republican Democrat, in the past.

- Vince you've made up your mind, who are you gonna vote for?

- I'm gonna vote for Governor Ron DeSantis.

- [Rob] Why?

- Well, you know, it's like Howard said, it's who's gonna run the state better.

If you look at everything Governor DeSantis does, we've had the largest surplus in state history.

I believe he's given more money to the environment to fight red tide than Charlie Christ, and Rick Scott combined as governor.

And Governor DeSantis believes I can run my life better than the government can tell me how to run my life.

And so I want someone that's running the state that says, I believe, and I should be in control of my life.

Then the governor or the state to tell me what I could do with my kids in school versus what I believe I could teach them at home.

- [Rob] Dennis, is that the way you see it?

- No, quite to the contrary, I wouldn't vote for Ron DeSantis, if he was the only candidate running, that doesn't even make sense.

But now I, at this point am gonna vote reluctantly for Charlie Christ, 'cause like Howard said, it really is in my view, the lesser of two, and I hate to say evils, that's a little too strong.

But the lesser of two poor choices, in my opinion.

Charlie Christ is a nice guy.

I know Charlie.

He's a nice guy, but he's, you know, Florida's been there done that with Charlie, but compared to Mr. DeSantis, who is in the governor's mansion, due completely to the endorsement of Donald Trump, who came to Tampa, Hillsborough county, Florida, if the voters will remember, and he endorsed an unknown north Florida Congressman named Ron DeSantis for governor, and at the time of that endorsement, Adam Putnam was 20 points ahead , in the Republican race for governor.

DeSantis ended up beating Adam Putnam by 20 points.

That was a 40 point swing.

Now, up to this point in time, Ron DeSantis, an allegedly Harvard educated lawyer, who should understand the Constitution of the United States, has not as yet denounced Donald Trump, for what Donald Trump almost accomplished on January 6th, which almost turned the United States of America into a banana Republic.

So with that said, and unless and until he denounces Donald Trump for everything that Donald Trump has done to this country, he's not fit to hold any elected office.

- You know, we could turn it into a debate.

I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna do it.

But I do want to ask you about the point that that Dennis just raised, and that is, is our democracy safe in your minds?

I mean, are you satisfied that our democracy is strong, and not under threat?

Or do you agree with Dennis and will this affect your vote in November that there are some threats to our democracy.

Does anybody think our democracy is strong, and safe, and holding on?

And why do you think that?

- As Dennis said, you know, it's January 6th, but I mean, Joe Biden won the election, right?

I mean, it's, that's not being disputed.

So Joe Biden won the election.

I think our democracy's safe.

You know, Florida voted a certain way, and I trust our supervisor of elections, and trust the people in office.

And I may disagree with what they have to say, but that's still their right to say it.

And I think our democracy is on strong footing.

- [Rob] Josh, is our democracy on strong footing?

- I would disagree.

I would, I would.

And the reason I disagree with that is because we've just heard it in the last five minutes.

Everybody we've talked about, been there, done that, that guy was endorsed by money.

This guy doesn't stand for what I stand for.

That guy's not what I really want to do.

The issue is if you don't have a bank account rolling zeros in it, you're not gonna get up front to advocate for your people.

But I'll stand here right now, and tell you that I've done more to advocate with nonprofits, and individuals who are broke, for our community, our teachers, our kids than these guys with rolling around with big bank accounts are.

So the fact of the matter is the actual leaders of the community, we're not running for big titles, we're 10 toes deep, putting in the work.

So the fact of the matter is that every person we get up there or we're endorsing, or we get a shot to vote for is ran by a tax bracket that I'm not even close to.

Right?

So for me, there's a piece missing our leaders, before the leaders I read about in school, the leaders that we grew up learning about were guys that or women who advocated for the people, or stood in a place of what was going on at the moment.

Right now, it's all about how much money can I put into marketing to make sure I double up my votes?

So it's in my opinion, I would say no.

- Let me ask you about another race.

There is a race for U.S. Senate, that's on the ballot this November, and it features the incumbent, Republican Senator Marco Rubio, and the Democrat Val Demings.

If the election were held today, have you made up your mind about who you're gonna vote for, for us Senate?

Okay, we've got two undecideds here.

Let me go with Vince, you're undecided.

Why are you undecided?

- You know, before I vote, I like to, you know, research all the candidates before I vote.

And you know, I haven't had the chance or time to.

You know, I've heard obviously Marco Rubio in the news a lot, Senator Rubio.

I just haven't had a chance to really dive into, you know, Val Demings and her career, and her accomplishments, before I make a decision.

- Kelly, you said you've made up your mind.

Why have you made up your mind, and who are you gonna vote for?

- I think Val Demings is a stronger candidate , from what I've seen so far, just in what she's done here.

And I'm just, I'm not impressed by Marco Rubio.

- Mona, you said you've made up your mind too.

Why?

- I have, I've been following Val Deming's career.

I've met her in Washington when she first went, and yeah, I'm really impressed.

Been the chief of police in Orlando.

I think she's just a stronger candidate.

- Let me ask you about some of the big issues that are kind of behind the scenes on the ballot this year.

U.S. Supreme Court came out with a major decision on abortion this year.

will the Supreme Court's decision on abortion, enter into your judgment about which candidates to select for U.S. Senate, for instance, or for Congress, or for other offices?

Who thinks that abortion plays an issue, in how you make up your mind?

Three candidates, three people in the front, not in the back.

Vince, let me go to you again.

Why does it, why does it not matter to you?

- Well, you know, it's not my body, not my choice.

So, you know, I'm not gonna get pregnant.

So, you know, I doesn't matter to me, per se.

And I think, you know, the late Ginsburg, you know, had it right, that it was a gross, you know, overreach at the Supreme Court at the time.

And it should have been something decided at the state level.

- Howard, you said that abortion will be a factor in making up your mind who you vote for in November.

Why?

Why is it gonna be a factor?

- I think, you know, and as not a woman, it's difficult for me to speak about this, because I think women really have the final say on this.

But it's such, it is a complicated issue, and for many reasons.

One of the reasons I think is because how people are deciding, like when there's so many things wrapped up into this.

It's healthcare for women.

It's when does life start?

And there's literally, it's a cyclone of issues wrapped into one issue.

None of them make any sense.

None of them are connected.

You can say life begins at conception, but our insurance, and all the other legal parts of when does a life begin, don't match up with that.

And I think it's important for Florida, because if it does get kicked back to the states, which is allegedly what is supposed to happen, then our state senators who we elect, who are supposed to be our voices, our representation, are going to make that decision.

Now I know people are trying to override that in Washington already, but yes, what we say, I think who we are voting for senators, are gonna have a large effect.

And I'm very concerned about, just the healthcare aspects of it, because abortion is not just, you know, I think everyone likes to portray abortion as being a choice that you make for your lifestyle.

But there are, you know, the whole late term abortion thing, it's really women's healthcare.

It's not forcing women to carry a dead baby in their body for months that could possibly, you know, kill them.

But that's abortion too.

That's it's such a huge, complicated issue.

- Another issue that's in the background, is the issue of guns.

We've seen a lot of mass shootings here in the U.S., especially in the last few years.

And there is a move to have open carry here in Florida.

I want to ask you all of you, if a candidate were to say that they are in favor of open carry in Florida, would that have a difference on how you vote?

Whether or not you would vote for that candidate in November.

Dennis, can I start with you?

- Sure.

I think open carry is an absolutely insanely stupid idea, and anyone who would advocate that needs to rethink things.

All you need to do is interview anyone in law enforcement who tells you that when they respond to a shooting incident, for example, and they come upon a series and everybody's got a gun, they don't know who the bad guys are.

That's one reason right there.

I'm a gun owner, I believe in the second amendment to certain degrees, but I think open carry is nothing but a politician, or a group of politicians throwing red meat to their base.

And I think it makes no sense on any level.

- Mona, if a candidate were to say they favor open carry, and they're gonna move to make that happen in Florida in the coming year, would that affect your vote?

- Absolutely.

Particularly we have to be aware for black and browns.

Can you imagine what would happen at yeah, no.

We'll be like the wild, wild west.

I'm for the second amendment, too.

I'm a gun owner and I do, but no, we just walking around with guns.

Nah, too many hot heads.

- [Rob] Do you think black and brown people would be treated differently if they opened carried?

- Yes.

We hear it when you get pulled over, and when they pull you over, when they run your tag, they already know that you're licensed to carry.

And if you're licensed to carry, most likely you're gonna have it in the glove compartment.

- [Rob] Vince would the candidate's position on open carry, affect your vote in November?

- I mean, that would be one element to my vote.

Yes.

- [Rob] And what side would you hope that that candidate comes down on?

- For that issue?

I mean, as a licensed concealed carry member of the NRA, you know, I would say, you know, second amendment right.

You know, if our duly elected officials create a law to pass and it upholds in the state court, then it should be legal to have open carry.

- Panelists, thank you so much.

Thank you for your excellent answers to all my questions.

It's great to see you.

Well, thank you for joining us.

Please send your comments to us at ftw@wedu.org.

Join us next week for another special edition of "Florida This Week", focusing on climate change and its effect on the Tampa Bay and Sarasota areas.

And from all of us here at WEDU, have a great weekend.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - [Announcer] "Florida This Week" is a production of WEDU, who is solely responsible for its content.