Like most politicians, DeSantis is offering what his political base wants, said Hans Hassell, a political scientist at Florida State University. “Governor DeSantis is not thinking about the democrats and the other people who are not going to vote for him no matter what,” he said.

Starting with the 2000 presidential campaign, candidates have focused increasingly on doing what they can to increase interest and turnout among their base voters and less on trying to court supposed moderate swing voters in the political center, he said. “Turnout has become much more important than persuadable voters.”

That’s even more important for someone like DeSantis. When politicians have ambitions for higher office, Hassell said, they start to focus on the constituency they’re going to have to court in the future. For DeSantis, that is 2024 Republican primary voters in other states.

Democrats see Republican primary politics as driving his COVID decisions.

“Here’s the fact: Our governor is running for president. He is playing to the Trump base. He is not governing this state. That is the bottom line,” U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, a Palm Beach County Democrat, said this week.