Cuban Americans Are Distinctly Republican, But Competition For The Vote Of Other Latinos Is Strongly Democratic

It is well known that the majority of Cuban Americans have been conservative and supporters of the Republican Party, since the first migration of Cubans to South Florida in 1959, and particularly after the failed Bay of Pigs fiasco under President John F. Kennedy in 1961.

And yet, younger Cubans are much more Democratic, as this scholar and professor discovered in his classes over the years.

Still, the effect of Fidel Castro and his brother Raul Castro permeate the strong anti Communism of Cuban Americans in Florida, New Jersey, New York and California, major centers of Cuban Americans. But Cubans are only about 4 percent of all Latino Americans.

Other Latino Americans still tend to be strongly Democratic, so it is expected Joe Biden will win the vast majority of Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, and other Latino groups from Latin America, with the one exception of Venezuelans.

Florida will be more complex because of the strength of the Cuban vote in South Florida, but the growing Puerto Rican presence, especially in central Florida in the last few years, makes it a real competition for both Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

Elsewhere, the Mexican American vote, and population (which is two thirds of all Latinos in America), makes it likely that Arizona may turn “Blue” and that Texas will be much more competitive than ever in the past thirty years. And Georgia and North Carolina also will be tight races due to Latinos.

Already, California, Nevada, New Mexico, and Colorado are strongly Democratic.

So the battle for the Latino vote is very much to be noticed in this upcoming Presidential election, and in Senate and House races.

One comment on “Cuban Americans Are Distinctly Republican, But Competition For The Vote Of Other Latinos Is Strongly Democratic

  1. Vahe David Demirjian September 13, 2020 3:07 pm

    The Cuban American bromance with the Party of Abraham Lincoln actually started with Ronald Reagan in the early 1980s. And you’re right, the younger generation of Cuban Americans in Florida has voted for Democrats in recent presidential elections, but you also have to remember that two Cuban American politicians from a Cuban community in Union City, New Jersey, called “Havana on the Hudson”, Bob Menendez and Albio Sires, are Democrats. Also note that Texas, West Virginia, and Ohio sent their own Cuban Americans to Congress (Ted Cruz, Alex Mooney, and Anthony Gonzalez respectively). Even though Bob Menendez and Albio Sires opposed Barack Obama’s opening to Cuba, they have been firmly Democrats, and they opposed GOP efforts to repeal Obamacare. A recently released book titled “The Hispanic Republican: The Shaping of an American Political Identity, from Nixon to Trump” makes clear that Hispanic American voting behavior outside Florida hasn’t always been monolithic in terms of voting behavior (Bush Jr secured more than 40 percent of the Hispanic vote during his 2004 reelection campaign).

    Despite Trump accusing Democrats of taken the Hispanic American vote for granted, the 2012 presidential election made clear that the GOP couldn’t take the Cuban American vote for granted. While the Cuban presence in southern Florida makes Fidel Castro the most important person besides Walt Disney to leave a cultural mark on Florida, Puerto Rican immigrants live in the very Orlando area home to Disneyland.

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