the profile of the Latino voter in Florida

Latinos represent more than one-fifth of eligible voters in Florida, ranking as the second largest population group after non-Hispanic white residents. In Miami-Dade County, Hispanics make up 64% of the voting population, a proportion that is more than three times the state average, according to a report from the Latino Policy Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles.

However, the profile of the Latino voter is different in this territory when compared to the rest of the United States. While at the national level Hispanics of Mexican descent are the majority, in Florida those of Cuban origin (28%) and Puerto Ricans (21%) predominate.

In Miami-Dade, in southern Florida, Cuban-Americans make up the majority of Latino voters, while in Orange County (central) the majority are Puerto Ricans.

Mexicans (14%) and Dominicans (4%) complete the list, although their impact, according to experts, is a minority.

Cubans, mostly for Trump

Osvaldo Hernández is a Cuban who has been residing in South Florida for more than 30 years. Although he could vote early in the presidential elections, he prefers to wait for election day on November 5 “to experience the festival of democracy.”

He is convinced who he is going to vote for: “I will do it for Donald Trump,” he states without hesitation before the Voice of America.

Like Hernández, Cuban-Americans in Miami-Dade County are expected to vote overwhelmingly for the Republican candidate, a report reveals. study from Florida International University (FIU, in English).

The survey indicates that 68% of these voters would cast their vote for Donald Trump, which would represent “a historical maximum” of support for a Republican candidate by this segment of the population.

Economy and immigration for the Cuban-American voter

There are two key factors that would have contributed to this massive support from Cubans. On the one hand, Donald Trump’s promise to return to the same economic situation as four years ago, “with low inflation,” and on the other, promote a hard line against irregular migration.

“The economy in this country has become very bad and the border is completely open, that is why we have the problems we have,” argues Osvaldo Hernández, adopting Trump’s tough speech against immigration, although the White House has reiterated that The borders have never been open and several immigration policies have been implemented in this regard.

Although Cubans tend to be opposed to current immigration policies, the survey indicates that they would be in favor of maintaining it. the humanitarian parole promoted by Joe Biden’s government and Kamala Harris, who has allowed the entry of more than 111,000 citizens of the Caribbean island.

Manuel Martínez, another political analyst who collaborates with the FIU Cuban Research Institute in South Florida, remembers that the immigration issue “generally has not been a problem for Cubans since, thanks to US legislation, they have been able to receive to the different existing mechanisms.”

“It is common for them to defend migration, as long as it is done legally, in the same way that they have come,” he points out, emphasizing that “people who come from abroad long to live in a rule of law in which the laws enter.” in force and is a commitment between the new immigrant and his new country.”

Furthermore, he considers that the parole humanitarian, whose main requirement of having a sponsor in the US takes away from the State the economic responsibility of looking after these immigrants, something that does not usually happen with other migrant groups.

“The people who are today in a caravan that is on its way to the United States I don’t think they have relatives” in the country, he indicated.

Fear of “socialist” ideas

There is another point that would have contributed to the rejection of the Democratic candidacy: the allusions that Donald Trump has made about the vice president and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, describing her program as “extreme left” and sowing doubts about the Democratic Party, calling it of “communist”.

“It is not convenient for us, as voters, for an administration to come, that comes with a type of socialist, extreme left and radical agenda, that is against the system we have here,” comments Miguel Saavedra, a prominent Cuban exile figure and president of the “Vigilia Mambisa” organization, remembering that he fled “from the clutches of Castroism” in Cuba.

However, Ana Pedroso, of Cuban descent, maintains that this argument “is pure ignorance.”

“They automatically think that being a democrat or voting for Kamala means being a communist, and that is not true,” she said, convinced that “one thing is being a communist and another is wanting to promote policies to help the people, which is what democrats do.” ”.

The Puerto Rican vote

Puerto Ricans are the second largest group of Latinos in Florida and their participation also has an impact on the state’s results. It is estimated that more than 1.2 million Puerto Ricans live in Florida

A recent study carried out by the UCF Puerto Rico Research Hub reveals that 43% of respondents identify with the Democratic Party, while 30% identify with the Republican Party, and 22% consider themselves independent of any party. In addition, 77% of those interviewed expressed their intention to vote in the November 5 elections. Among them, 45% plan to vote for Democratic candidates, compared to 31% who will support Republican candidates, and 17% for other parties.

Only a quarter of Puerto Ricans vote in Florida

According to Jimmy Torres, founder of the Boricua Vota organization that tries to encourage the participation of the Puerto Rican community in the presidential elections, this segment of the population can “be the chip that changes the game” in Florida.

“That we decide to go to vote completely changes the electoral landscape, and we can make a candidate win or lose (in the state),” he recently declared.

However, these organizations admit that the main problem is that Puerto Rican voters do not usually go to the polls. It is estimated that only 25% of Puerto Ricans registered to vote ultimately do so.

Professor Fernando Rivera, director of the UCF Puerto Rico Research Hub, admits that there is a lack of educational campaigns that address candidates’ proposals to encourage voter participation.

“(If voters) do not feel that there is a platform or a candidacy that is going to benefit them, then they assume that nothing is going to change and they prefer to stay home,” explains Rivera.

Racist insults at a Trump campaign event

The Island of Enchantment has entered, unintentionally, into the electoral race after the American comedian Tony Hinchcliffe said on Sunday, during Donald Trump’s campaign event at Madison Square Garden in New York, that Puerto Rico was “an island of floating garbage.”

“I don’t know if you know this, but there is a floating island of garbage right there in the middle of the ocean, I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” Hinchcliffe said before Trump’s presentation.

These comments provoked numerous reactions from Puerto Ricans, such as that of singers Ricky Martin and Luis Fonsi, who condemned the comedian’s words. The renowned artist Bad Bunny also decided to step forward and publicly support Kamala Harris’ candidacy, after what happened in New York.

“They were completely unnecessary comments and this is not the fault of this comedian alone, but many other people, such as the campaign director (of Donald Trump) or communications, had to have seen and approved that speech,” said Adriana Rivera, spokesperson for La Mesa Boricua, in statements to the VOA.

In his opinion, what this message does is “stigmatize” Latinos in the United States, “a practice that Trump has used in the past.”

“In 2016 he said that Mexicans were rapists and criminals. Lately attacked our Caribbean brothers from Haiti saying that Haitians eat petseven though Republican officials in Springfield, Ohio, denied it,” he said, without daring to predict whether this incident could significantly impact the election results.

On the other hand, Miguel Said, who is part of Kamala Harris’ strategy team in Florida, is convinced that “many will open their eyes” when it comes to going to the polls, just as happened in 2017, when Hurricane María hit Puerto Rico.

“We do not forget what Donald Trump did in 2017, when Hurricane Maria passed through Puerto Rico and millions of our family, friends and brothers were cut off from communication, and he simply threw away paper towels like a Band-Aid,” Said said in reference to another controversial episode of the former president.

Donald Trump’s campaign has distanced itself from these comments, ensuring that “this joke does not reflect the opinions of President Trump or the campaign.”

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