Why 'anti-wokeness' may not be Ron DeSantis’ panacea: researcher

26 January 2023

Railing against “wokeness” relentlessly is a major part of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ brand, and it worked in 2022 — at least if the midterms results are an indication.

Democrats performed much better than expected last year, slightly increasing their small U.S. Senate majority and winning gubernatorial races in key swing states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Arizona. The 2022 red wave didn’t materialize — except in Florida, where DeSantis defeated Democratic challenger Charlie Crist (a former Republican and ex-Florida governor) by 19 percent. DeSantis ran from the far right and was reelected by a landslide. Some Democratic strategists have concluded that Florida is no longer a swing state but has evolved into a full-fledged red state.

But what worked in Florida in 2022 doesn’t necessarily work elsewhere. When DeSantis visited Philadelphia on Tuesday, January 24 to receive the Union League’s gold medal, a group of protesters outside on Broad Street made it clear that they thought he was “not worthy” of the reward. And even in Florida, “anti-wokeness” doesn’t automatically excite swing voters.

In an article published by the conservative website The Bulwark on January 26, Rich Thau (president of the research firm Egregious) takes a look at how some swing voters in the Sunshine State respond to the term “woke.” And according to Thau, many of them are lukewarm or blasé about “anti-wokeness.”

“On January 3,” Thau observes in his Bulwark reporting, “Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spent nearly an eighth of his inaugural address — a full 198 words — trying to define the word ‘woke’ — just so he could spend the next 35 words condemning it. There’s no doubt these 35 words were powerful, direct and unambiguous…. But is DeSantis’ message truly getting through when it takes six times as long to explain wokeness as it does to reject it? Would someone who heard only these 35 words in a news report have any idea what he’s attacking?”

Thau adds, “Judging from the 13 Trump-to-Biden swing voters across Florida we focus-grouped on January 10, the answer may be no. Setting DeSantis aside for a moment, most of our respondents — who remember, live in Florida — either had no clue what ‘woke’ means or completely disagreed with each other on the term’s meaning.”

For example, Katie, a 42-year-old voter from Bradenton, Florida, told Egregious, “I just heard it used so many different ways. I honestly kind of just ignore it to be honest.”

“Woke” is a term that has existed in the Black community for generations; it was even used by folk/blues singer Leadbelly, who died in 1949. The term meant “enlightened,” “aware” or “well-informed” about what was going on. If a Black civil rights activist of the 1960s or 1970s said, “Stay woke,” it had a very positive connotation. If a Black voter described Marvin Gaye’s iconic What’s Going On album of 1971 as “woke,” it was high praise.

But in recent years, the term has been weaponized in right-wing MAGA media to mean, essentially, political correctness on steroids. Journalist Michael Harriot, in an article published by the Black website The Root on November 12, 2021, complained about far-right white MAGA Republicans who have taken a Black term and used it as a weapon. DeSantis is a prime example, slamming anything even remotely liberal or centrist as “woke.”

But some swing voters in Florida, according to Thau’s Bulwark article and Egregious research, believe that he is overusing the term and has grown tiresome.

Jason, a 51-year-old voter from Delray, Florida, told Egregious, “I understand he’s pandering to his base. But it’s just a little bit too much. It’s attacking without naming specific groups. And there’s legitimacy on both sides. But to say that one side has no legitimacy is silly to me.”

Read The Bulwark’s full story at this link.

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