COVID-19 and Fauci fail to energize voters for DeSantis: People are ‘ready to move on’

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has sought to make former President Donald Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, including his refusal to fire Dr. Anthony Fauci, an issue in the 2024 presidential campaign.
While Florida received high marks on the economy as the pandemic came to a close, the topic hasn’t been translated into success in the primary.
NEWSOM TRIP TO CHINA TO DISCUSS CLIMATE CHANGE FILLED WITH CONTROVERSY
At the time, DeSantis bucked federal recommendations in favor of keeping the state open and mandate-free, as well as requiring schools to remain open for in-person learning. These moves ultimately worked in his favor, bringing up his approval rating, bringing down his disapproval rating, and cementing him as perhaps the only significant challenger to Trump in the 2024 Republican primary.
Republican strategists attribute the issue’s lack of resonance to the fact that COVID-19, as well as the resulting lockdowns and masks, are almost entirely absent from everyday life for Americans in 2023. “It’s just not ever-present in people’s lives like it was when we w …