["\n\nObjective\nDo people set aside their partisan differences and rally around elected officials during a pandemic? President Trump's delegation of responsibility to the states during the COVID‐19 pandemic placed governors on the frontlines of the battle; some have shined and garnered positive national attention, others have wilted under the pressure of the national spotlight.\n\n\nMethods\nWe use regression discontinuity design and exploit a discontinuity in the state's political events to assess the support of a governor's response to the pandemic.\n\n\nResults\nUsing survey data from Florida's registered voters, we find that Governor DeSantis's approval dropped by 7 percentage points following his “Safer at Home” order press conference on April 1.\n\n\nConclusion\nOur results suggest that under certain circumstances partisanship can blunt a “rally around the flag” effect. This finding provides context to understanding when and under which circumstances elected officials can expect increases (or decreases) in public support.\n\n", "Social Science Quarterly, Volume 101, Issue 5, Page 1979-1994, September 2020. "]