A new survey
of over 400 Latino voters in Florida found that U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson had a slight advantage over Gov. Rick Scott in the state’s Senate race, and that job creation, addressing immigration policies and rebuilding Puerto Rico were all top priorities.
A new survey of more than 400 Latino voters in Florida found that U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson had a slight advantage over Gov. Rick Scott in the state’s Senate race, and that job creation, addressing immigration policies and rebuilding Puerto Rico were all top priorities.
The poll released Monday was commissioned by the nonpartisan Hispanic Federation, along with progressive groups Latino Victory Fund, Alianza for Progress and Power 4 Puerto Rico, and sheds light on the political attitudes of registered Latino voters in the state.
The breakdown of those surveyed was meant to represent Hispanic communities in the state: 39 percent in Miami; 18 percent in east Florida; 18 percent in west Florida; 16 percent in Orlando; and 8 percent in northern Florida.
While 400 voters were polled by phone, Global Strategy Group interviewed an additional 144 Latinos living in Orlando to reflect the recent influx of Puerto Ricans to the region after Hurricane Maria.
Of the 400 phone interviews, 28 percent were Cuban; 22 percent were Puerto Rican; and about 4 percent were natives of Venezuela.
Others surveyed hailed from Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and other Central American countries.
Nelson, a Democrat, had 44 percent overall support from Latinos while Scott had 41 percent support and 15 percent were undecided.
Broken down by region, the survey showed Nelson had 52 percent support among Latinos in Orlando — which has seen a sharp increase of Puerto Ricans in the past year — while 32 percent supported Scott. By contrast, 49 percent of Latinos in Miami backed Scott and 35 supported Nelson.
“There isn’t another place in this country where 33 percent of Latinos are registered Republicans, and particularly the Cuban population in the Miami area,” said Luis Miranda, founding partner of MirRam Group political consulting firm and chairman for the Latino Victory Fund.
Over 80 percent of Latinos ranked creating jobs as the top priority, followed by expanding health care coverage, addressing President Donald Trump’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy, and rebuilding Puerto Rico.
Miranda noted that the recovery of Puerto Rico rated highly across the Latinos polled, not just among those from the island.
“You will expect Puerto Ricans to be concerned about rebuilding Puerto Rico… but even among Cubans — three out of five Cubans think the issue of rebuilding Puerto Rico is very important,” he said.
While 41 percent of Latinos said Scott had done enough to welcome Puerto Ricans into Florida, 33 percent felt Nelson had done the
right amount. By comparison, 58 percent felt Trump had not done enough.
Among Puerto Ricans, 72 percent said the president had not done enough to support evacuees.
Registered Latino voters were surveyed from July 30 to Aug. 5 and the poll had a margin of error of 4.9 percent.
One of the most exciting findings for the groups behind the survey was that 78 percent of Latinos surveyed said they were most likely to vote in more elections because of the “current situation in the U.S.”
Mayra Macias, political director at Latino Victory Fund, explained the groups left the definition of “current situation” intentionally vague.
The survey also found climate change was a unifying topic.
Across demographic and political lines, 77 percent of Latinos believe global warming is happening, the survey found.
About 90 percent of Democrats polled believe in climate change, as well as 80 percent of independents and 56 percent of Republicans.
While Venezuelans made up only 4 percent of those surveyed, 46 percent of those polled overall said it was important for Florida’s next senator to stand up to the Venezuelan regime, outpacing the 37 percent who said it was important to stand up to the Cuban regime.
“We’ve seen this in Florida, how all Latinos are impacting one another and changing the way we think and what we believe [is] important to decide how to vote and act,” Miranda said.