Ron DeSantis won the 2018 election by an eyelash. He has presided over, shall we say, difficult times in Florida. And yet, he is doing nothing to win over swing voters; like Trump, his entire agenda consists of throwing red meat to the base. In particular, he has openly sided with anti-vaxxers, even though polls indicate their cause is unpopular. Can these tactics possibly make sense?
Yes, for two reasons. First, 2022 is not a presidential election year, so turnout will be relatively low, and base mobilization will be decisive. Anti-vaxxers make up a significant part of the base. Second, dead people can’t vote. Living anti-vaxxers appreciate the degree of freedom DeSantis has accorded them, and as for the dead ones, who cares?