Escambia County Commissioner Doug Underhill took to Facebook to announce his disapproval of the March for Our Lives participants the morning of the rally. He wrote, “Good morning to all you marchers. You are wrong. My gun is not your problem, and my rights are not your business. Your fears and your hate are a very real danger to our Constitution. You are literally spending your Saturday demanding the government take away your rights. Pathetic.â€
In a Facebook comment to NewsRadio 1620 radio host Andrew McKay, Underhill wrote, “Andrew, it was the socialist experiment of this radically leftist south Florida town that created the monster that did this AND (his emphasis) the little monsters who are parading around pointing the finger at people like me.â€
When the questioned by the News Journal, Underhill said he posted about the issue because what he was seeing in press coverage of the March For Our Lives protests didn’t reflect what he said were the views of the majority of Escambia County residents.
According to an Inweekly/Political Matrix poll of 399 likely voters in Escambia County District 2, conducted between April 6 and April 7, few of the commissioner’s constituents agreed with his statements. Only 33 percent agreed with Underhill’s calling the participants of the March for Our Lives rallies “pathetic.†Even fewer agreed with him using “little monsters” to describe the the survivors of the Parkland, Florida shooting who joined the rallies, 22 percent.
District 2 voters were also asked whether they believed the people who participated in the March for Our Lives rally were unpatriotic. Over 57 percent said no. Only 27 percent believed the participants were unpatriotic.
Commissioner Doug Underhill called the locals who participated in the Pensacola March for Our Lives Rally “pathetic,” do you agree with his statement?
| Total | % | |
| Yes | 133 | 33.3% |
| No | 186 | 46.6% |
| Undecided | 80 | 20.1% |
Commissioner Doug Underhill called the survivors of the shooting in Parkland, Florida who participated in the national March for Our Lives Rally “little monsters.†Do you agree with his statement?
| Total | % | |
| Yes | 90 | 22.6% |
| No | 242 | 60.7% |
| Undecided | 67 | 16.8% |
Do you believe that the people who participated in the March for Our Lives rally were unpatriotic?
| Total | % | |
| Yes | 107 | 26.8% |
| No | 228 | 57.1% |
| Undecided | 64 | 16.0% |
The persons sampled were called using an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system and were called during the hours of 2-8 p.m. between April 6-7. The phone numbers called were provided by the Escambia Supervisor of Elections Office. The Margin of Error for this study is +/- 4% with a confidence level of 95%.