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Trump heads to Florida, where his support runs deep but economic frustrations persist
FORT MYERS, Fla. — Mercedes Price Harry drives a 4Runner, and with gas back above $4 a gallon in Florida, she says it hurts every time she fills up. But the chair of the Lee County Republican Party is not giving up on President Donald Trump.
“You don’t save the country giving up the ship because gas prices are high,” she said.
Not everyone here feels the same way. Trump won nearly 64% of the vote in Lee County in 2024, but Price Harry said there are “a lot of people that feel a lot of apathy and frustration right now” over the economy and the war with Iran. When the president arrives for a rally Friday, she is hoping he can reassure them.
“We’re hoping that he’s just going to remind us that he is doing all that he can to move us in that right direction,” she said. “Hopefully, he’ll make everybody feel good about the bumps that we’ve had in the last year, and that we can continue to put all of our faith in him because I think that most of us do, but not everybody is staying on the Trump train.”
Trump’s visit comes with early voting underway and Election Day less than two weeks away. Republicans are fighting to hold slim majorities in both chambers of Congress, and the president’s approval rating has fallen to a record low of 31%, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Monday. The question here is whether loyalty to Trump will carry over to the Republicans he is backing, and whether he can motivate enough of his voters to turn out.
Two of those Republicans are expected to join him at Friday afternoon’s rally: Byron Donalds, the party’s gubernatorial candidate, and Jim Schwartzel, its candidate in Florida’s 19th Congressional District. Donalds leads Democrat David Jolly by just 4 percentage points in the closely watched governor’s race, according to an MS NOW/Fifty Plus One polling average.
Democrats sense an opening. Former President Bill Clinton campaigned for Jolly in Florida earlier this week, his first campaign trip of the year.
Florida Republicans, for their part, have spent the year trying to make the state’s congressional delegation even more conservative. Led by outgoing Gov. Ron DeSantis, GOP leaders passed a new map this spring that could leave Democrats with just four of Florida’s 28 House seats, down from eight under the old lines.
But Republicans could fall short in at least three of the seats they redrew in their favor, including a coastal district where Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz is running. About $50 million has been spent on that race since the start of July, according to AdImpact, making it one of the year’s most expensive House contests.
Trump has repeatedly said gas prices will “drop like a rock” once the war with Iran is over. As the conflict enters its ninth month, the average price of gas in Florida has climbed back above $4 a gallon, according to AAA.
“I think what voters are hoping to hear from Trump is some sort of a promise for solutions for issues of affordability,” said Bethany Conrad, an assistant professor of political science at Florida Gulf Coast University.
Eight in 10 Americans rate the economy as fair or poor, according to the latest CNBC All-America Economic Survey, which also found Trump’s approval at an all-time low. Voters MS NOW interviewed at several of the president’s recent campaign stops echoed that sentiment, saying the economy is top of mind.
Among Florida Republicans, however, Trump’s approval rating remains high at 83%, according to an NBC6/Telemundo Station Group poll.
“I think what we’re looking for is that he’s just going to instill in us the confidence that we had in him when we voted for him in ’24,” Price Harry said.
Hunter Woodall contributed to this report.
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