ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Eckerd College Political Science Professor Tony Brunello allowed Spectrum News to attend his class on Tuesday which coincided with President Joe Biden’s visit to Tampa to highlight his support for abortion rights.

What You Need To Know

  • President Joe Biden visited Tampa on Tuesday to highlight his support for abortion rights 

  • Three independent Eckerd College student voters agreed it was a smart move for Biden

  • Florida's 6 week abortion ban goes into effect on May 1 

  • University of North Florida Professor Michael Binder believes Amendment 4 will fail to get the support needed in November

“How many of you are surprised that President Biden is actually visiting Florida as a campaign stop at this point?” Brunello asked the class. “Is he wasting his trip?”

Student Madison Gley responded, “No… I definitely think it’s worth the trip reaching out to those people and getting a face-to-face interaction and him talking about his agenda. So, our citizens can really understand his plan.”

Three women students, all 20 years old and all independent or no party affiliation voters agreed to talk about the abortion issue on the November ballot and President Biden’s visit.

Student Erin Flynn said it’s important for Biden to visit the Bay area showing his support for abortion rights as Florida’s 6 week abortion ban goes into effect on May 1.

“I think Ron DeSantis has kind of dimmed everyone’s feelings lately and we’re kind of feeling hopeless,” she said. “I think with Joe Biden coming, it’ll be real good to hear his agenda and for people to think more about it.”

Student Noel Huchel Sullender said she plans to vote for Amendment 4 on the November ballot which would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.

“Sometimes you need that health care. That is, in my opinion, that should be a woman’s right,” she said. “That is a health care right. So, I think that is a huge issue.”

Student Angela Redman said it’s smart for Biden to highlight and contrast his position with former President Donald Trump, whose appointment of three supreme court justices overturned federal abortion protections.

“I think it’s really about the intrusion on our privacy and our intrusion on choice,” she said. “It’s not very fair to think that you are morally correct whilst taking away the choice of others.”

Professor Michael Binder, director of the public opinion research lab at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, said Republicans have nearly one million more registered voters than Democrats. Amendment 4 must get at least 60% of the vote to be approved, and Professor Binder predicts it will fail.

“We’ve seen it pass in red states, but we’ve never seen it get to 60 percent. I think that’s going to be a much harder one to get across the 60 percent line,” he said. “Not every 21-year-old college student is this big lefty liberal type, right? I have plenty of conservatives in my class that feel differently about these issues than you might expect.”

Binder said abortion rights are a positive issue for the democratic ticket and it was a wise move for Biden to visit Tampa to highlight it.

Student Flynn agrees it will be difficult to get over the 60% threshold needed for the amendment to be approved, but said she is hopeful.

“We have a voice, we have a say,” she said. “We are the generation that chooses what happens in our government.”