By: Robert Martinez/Contributing Writer
With voters submitting their ballots for the GOP presidential primary today, both professors and students at FIU see Florida as a crucial battleground state.
Kevin Evans, assistant professor in the political science department, whose area of expertise is in the presidency, Congress and inter-branch relations, discussed the importance of the primary.
“The primaries and caucuses serve as a mechanism to select the nominees that will run under the Democratic and Republican Party labels for our quadrennial presidential election,” said Evans. “The process is used to allocate delegates to candidates. These delegates support the candidate at the National Convention.”
For this year’s GOP presidential nomination, Republican hopefuls must receive 1,144 delegates out of a total 2,286. Florida originally had 100 delegates to contribute, but were penalized 50 delegates due to the state’s decision to move the preference primary to an earlier date to gain more influence.
“Whichever candidate wins a plurality of the votes in Florida will get 100 percent of the delegates, [which means] all 50,” said Evans.
Kathryn A. DePalo, lecturer and undergraduate advisor for the political science department, whose focus is in American government, judicial selection, state government, gender and political behavior, weighed in on the youth vote.
“Young people don’t vote in the same percentages as older voters,” said DePalo, “so their role in the primary won’t be quite as significant.”
In reference to the general election, she added, “Obama energized the youth vote, but they have become disenchanted with the President, as other … groups … have as well.”
When comparing past preference primaries in Florida, Evans and DePalo agree.
“In 2008, the Florida legislature also bucked party rules and … moved it, early on in the primary calendar to have a greater say in which nominee would be,” DePalo said. “2012 is a reflection of that importance from 2008 that Florida had not seen previous to 2008 because it voted later on the calendar when the race was already decided.”
According to Evans, this is “the first primary where ‘Super PACs’ have participated. These organizations can receive unlimited funds from donors, but cannot coordinate with the candidates.”
“Also, since each state up until this point has gone to a different candidate, the winner of Florida will inevitably be dubbed as the front runner by the media,” said Evans.
Super PACs, or political action committees, were the result of the 2010 Supreme Court decision, Citizens United v. FEC, which bans the government from establishing limits to corporations and unions on independent spending for political purposes. Many organizations have aired ads aggressively in Florida knowing the state has an expensive and influential media market.
Both Evens and DePalo find that the cost of higher education, federal cuts on financial aid, economic recovery and outlook on the job market are all issues that need to be addressed in the primaries as well as the general elections.
“Florida will be very significant and influential in selecting the Republican nominee,” DePalo said. “[The state] is a microcosm of the U.S. and statistics mirror what they are nationally. So the Florida vote may just determine the winner, much like we did in this state in 2008 when voters went for McCain.”
Polls will be open until 7 p.m. tonight, Jan. 31.
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