The purpose of this paper is to discuss the unique aspects of politics in Florida. It will describe the political terrain in Florida, consider the unusual aspects of politics in the state, and consider what factors shape the major political debates in it. It will also discuss why some people have seen Florida as something of a microcosm of the nation, already experiencing problems that the rest of the nation will face in the future.
Florida is peculiar in being closer to the national average in most demographic characteristics than is any other state. In this sense it is rather like a microcosm of the nation as a whole. The major politcal parties therefore tend to regard it as a testing ground for candidates or issues whose popularity is hard to predict. It matches the nation closely in terms of languages spoken, number and percentage of races, and the distribution among urban, suburban, and rural voters. Florida's population breakdown is 12.5 percent Hispanic, 71 percent other European, 14.5 percent African-American, 1.5 percent Asian-Pacific, and 0.3 percent Native American.
However, one dimension on which it does not match the nation well is in the distribution of ages. Because Florida is a popular state to retire to, 25 percent of its population is over age 65, whereas only 17 percent of the nation's population is over 65. One would usually expect senior citizens to be among the more conservative voters, heavily inclined toward the Republican party. However, because so many of the retirees in Florida are Jewish, are politically liberal, and incline toward the Democratic party, the extra 8 percent of the elderly does not cause Florida's voting to be as much more conservative as would usually be expected. That Florida in general matches the nation well is exemplified by the fact that Governor Lawton Chiles, a Democrat, has a state legislature both of whose houses recently came under Republican control. This situatio...