Whoopi Goldberg dismissed the idea that Democrats were misreading the political “mood” in Florida, insisting to her co-hosts on ABC’s “The View” that “nobody knows” who will come out on top in the Sunshine State.
Goldberg opened the show with a clip of Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) debating Democratic challenger Charlie Crist, after which she and her co-hosts mocked and criticized DeSantis for letting kids return to school after the COVID lockdowns.
WATCH:
Sunny called him "robotic"/"wooden" and calls his pressers "carefully crafted (despite him taking on a hostile liberal press).
She also decries keeping kids in school.
They suggest it's not common knowledge that he wants to run for president, and suggests he's tricking people. pic.twitter.com/4nznjmeDLR— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) October 25, 2022
Co-host Joy Behar began by claiming that DeSantis did not have “charisma,” saying, “When Crist said are you going to run in 2024, he looked like he’s ah — he’s having a stroke, he can’t even answer that simple question.”
Behar’s comments come just a week after the hosts of the ABC midday talk show defended Pennsylvania Senate hopeful John Fetterman (D) — who suffered a stroke earlier this year and has since struggled with auditory processing — and then immediately mocked Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker (R), asking whether he had suffered a stroke.
Co-host Sunny Hostin — who has repeatedly referred to the popular Florida governor as “DeathSantis” — called his performance at Monday’s debate “wooden” and claimed that his press appearances, where he often spars with reporters, were “carefully crafted.”
New Republican co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin suggested that perhaps Democrats were not doing a good job reading the room in Florida, quickly provoking Goldberg’s ire.
WATCH:
Whoopi decries talk about DeSantis winning Florida and doesn't want to hear a word about it or any predictions of it."Until you can say that you can see the crystal ball, nobody knows who's going to win the state of Florida.
The Real Clear Politics average has DeSantis up 10. pic.twitter.com/TaJJvbz9ZJ— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) October 25, 2022
“Florida is where Democrats may be misreading the political mood more than anywhere,” Griffin said, going on to explain that DeSantis was very popular among Hispanic voters — many of whom even approved of his efforts to send illegal migrants to sanctuary states.
“Until you can say that you can see the crystal ball, nobody knows who’s going to win the state of Florida,” Goldberg objected. “Nobody knows, I mean that’s the thing. I always — I say this to everybody for a reason. Because I feel like it is the responsibility for us to remind everyone that it’s your job to get out and vote in your state.”
DeSantis, according to RealClearPolitics, has a healthy lead on Crist and is projected to retain his office in November’s election. The polling average gives him a ten-point lead on Crist, and the two most recent polls show DeSantis leading Crist by more than twice the margin of error.