Sex and Babies Can Determine Florida's Next Governor

Florida's gubernatorial election is the toss-up to follow this cycle. In the red corner you have incumbent Governor Rick Scott butting heads with former Governor Charlie Crist in blue. Though they used to represent the same side, Governor Crist has run under the banner of independent in the past, and is now identified as a full-blown democrat. These two heavy-swingers have shown up to the elections and come out swinging. Though Crist has experience under his belt as a state senator, attorney general, and former governor, his extensive career has left him with a lot of flip-flopping around and Gov. Scott won't let him or his constituency forget it. On the other hand Gov. Crist still packs a bunch and has a couple hard-hits of his own, recently drawing on a surprising voter demographic in an attempt to swing this election.

Governor Crist has released an ad this past week calling into question Governor Scott's position on women's rights issues, namely abortion. In the ad women go through the voting history of Gov. Scott and ultimately tell you that on issues of women's rights, Scott has been wrong "every single time". Gov. Scott wouldn't take the ad sitting down. Within hours his campaign crew produced a response from none other than Gov. Crist himself. Taking soundbites from the days of his pro-life position, Crist is shown asking for trust and support to stop abortions. This Round-10 bout is proving to be key in the election because of the voter population it calls into question.

Who votes? In the presidential election, women outshine men at the voting booths according to a 2012 article in the Huffington Post, however Florida's gubernatorial races have a slightly different story to tell. Young women are one of the biggest drop-off of Florida's voting-age population between election cycles. The Herald Tribune's online staff writes about this key demographic in the race, noting that women in Florida favor Crist over Scott 49 percent to 34 percent. Crist is looking to use this demographic to swing one of the tightest gubernatorial races in the nation right now because that small change in turnout can flip-flop an election right his way.

Herald Tribune Online Staff, "Abortion debate shows women key to election," Herald Tribune, September 11, 2014. http://politics.heraldtribune.com/2014/09/11/abortion-debate-shows-women-key-election/

Emma Gray, "Voter Turnout Infographic Shows Women, Older People Most Likely To Come Out On Election Day," Huffington Post, August 17, 2012. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/17/voter-turnout-infographic-women_n_1797639.html