Angela Rivas / Contributing Writer
FIU, in partnership with Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs, presented the results from its 2020 Cuba Poll this past Friday.
The FIU Cuba Poll is the longest-running poll of Cuban Americans in Miami and began in 1991. This is its 14th rendition.
This year was generated from random telephone surveys conducted from July 7 to Aug. 17. The calls are randomly selected of 1,002 Cuban Americans who live in Miami-Dade County.
FIU utilized a large sample that produces the most accurate representation of the population, according to professor of global and sociocultural studies Guillermo Grenier.
“All of our Cuba polls are a labor of love,” Grenier said.
FIU President Mark B. Rosenberg was not able to attend this year’s Cuba Poll presentation but sent a message to its attendees via video.
“I’m always interested to see the results of the Cuba poll…this year is no exception,” he said.
This year the results were presented by Dr. Jorge Duany, Dr. Guillermo Grenier, and Dr. Qing Lai.
Grenier started the discussion by showing a PowerPoint presentation with the results from the Cuba Poll.
The results were categorized into four groups: general population, age categories, migration wave, and voter registration.
First, Grenier presented information which showed Hispanic populations at the national, state, and county level.
“In terms of national numbers…we are not a large number at the national level. In Miami-Dade County, we are [Cubans] the largest ethnic bloc,” said Grenier.
He then discussed how the high numbers of Cubans can translate to high numbers of Republicans.
The Republican Party and President Donald Trump’s administration have a presence in the district and are a natural attraction to Cuban Americans, said Grenier.
53% of Cuban Americans are registered Republicans and 23% are registered Democrats, according to the poll.
“Cubans comprise the large majority of all Hispanic republicans,” said Grenier.
Grenier pointed out that 76% of newly arrived Cuban Americans are registered as Republican, which he said stood out to him.
“The growth of [Cuban Americans’ support of] the Republican party evidently has a root in new arrivals,” he said.
Grenier said the Republican party makes Cubans feel part of a community and typically connects with them better than the Democratic party.
Due to this, Cuban Americans largely support Trump in the upcoming election: results showed that 59% of people would vote for Trump and 25% would vote for Joe Biden.
Back in 2016, Trump received 35% of support, Hillary Clinton had 31% of support, and the rest were undecided.
The surge in support for Trump showed how many Cuban Americans residing in the district felt satisfied with the Trump administration, said Grenier.
67% support how Trump handled healthcare issues, 66% support how he handled Cuba policies, and 65% support his management of the COVID-19 pandemic.
When asked about key issues in national politics, Cuban Americans considered the economy and health care to be most important.
Results regarding favor or opposition of the embargo against Cuba were also shown and resulted on trend since 2018.
“Every year Cubans agree [that] according to their definition [of the embargo], 71% recognize that the embargo has not worked,” Grenier said.
New arrivals and the young population still maintain their opposition to the embargo, he explained.
The young population also has shown to be included in the 50% of Cuban Americans who have traveled back to Cuba. According to Grenier, this is the highest number they have had in a while.
Duany then opened the Q&A portion of the presentation.
Attendees asked if the data was broken down by race and gender. Grenier said that while they collected data on this, they chose not to include it in the presentation as the amount of information would be overwhelming.
The main takeaway from this Cuba poll is the fact that the community is still divided on how to deal with Cuba, according to Grenier.
“I’ve had that line in this since the beginning,” he said. But, he also said that the “Cuban American population has grown in Miami Dade in such an intricate way.”
“Everyone wants change in Cuba, but how do we bring about the change? If second or third generations hang in there and try to help Cuba, the future is in their hands,” said Grenier.
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