For those wondering how DeSantis performed on the economy over the last 5 years
For verification, we turn to an unlikely source: PolitiFact.
To the question "How has Florida fared economically under DeSantis' watch?" this bane of the right replies perhaps grudgingly "On most key metrics examined, DeSantis has reason to tout success."
On employment, GDP, population growth and in-migration, and the cost of housing, Florida has been stellar during the DeSantis years.
"Overall, I would say that Gov. DeSantis has been a good steward," said William J. Luther, a Florida Atlantic University economist. "He inherited a well-performing state and has generally ensured that the state continues to work well for its residents."
Luther's faint praise DeSantis didn't mess up a good thing overlooks key science- and data-based decisions the governor made when hyperactive pandemic lockdowns were pummeling other states' economies.
To its credit, PolitiFact acknowledges as much:
A key turning point for DeSantis came during the coronavirus pandemic, when he decided that opening the state to economic activity was worth the health risk. … But the economic benefits were clear.
Florida not only returned to pre-COVID job totals nine months ahead of the nation as a whole, but the back-to-work wave also was broad-based. Construction barely took a hit. Manufacturing was back to level in 11 months. Leisure and hospitality, hammered by closings and social-distancing rules, returned to pre-pandemic levels by July 2022, nine months earlier than the rest of the country.
Better still, Florida's unemployment rate has tracked lower than the U.S. as a whole. As for GDP, here's PolitiFact:
Under DeSantis, another key measure gross domestic product, the sum total of all economic activity within the state has thrived. Adjusted for inflation, GDP has risen faster in Florida than it has for the nation as a whole. In fact, over time, Florida has been pulling away from the nation.
DeSantis hasn't done much about closing the gap between Florida's hourly wage earners and the national average (about 8%). Not that any one governor could. But there's something to be said for being paid as the time-honored joke goes in sunshine.
This is also a good time to mention that today DeSantis signed bills offering in the neighborhood of $2.7 billion in tax cuts for Florida residents.
There's permanent sales tax relief on baby and toddler necessities (strollers, cribs, diapers, baby wipes, and so on) and assorted sales tax holidays for purchasing school supplies and disaster preparedness items, as well as a Memorial Day-to-Labor Day hiatus on sales tax collections for recreational items and children's toys.
