Researchers say Cuban Americans are changing the way they vote

MIAMI, Fla.- The Republican Party has historically counted on a strong, loyal electorate of Cuban American voters.

Researchers say that’s now changing, and a majority actually support President Obama’s efforts to lift the embargo with Cuba.

So, what does that mean for the two Republican candidates for president? Miami claims the largest concentrations of Cuban Americans in the country. They’re unique among other Hispanic voters, nearly always voting Republican.

At Domino Park in Little Havana, locals tells WINK News you wouldn’t have been able to find a single Democratic voter at a table 10 years ago.

“Our most recent survey suggests that a slight majority, 51 percent of Cuban American adults across the United States now support the new approach from President Obama as it relates to dealing with Cuba,” said Fernand Amandi.

Amandi’s research and political consulting firm has been taking the pulse of the country’s Hispanic population for years.

He says the transformation’s happened over time, through the course of about 20 years.

Today, most of the Cuban Americans surveyed would vote on the Democratic ticket.

“Their number one most important issue that concerned them the most, was eliminating the Castro regime and government with the hopes of going back and returning to their homeland,” said Amandi. “What has happened though with the passage of time, that priority as far as being the be-all end-all issue has in essence faded into other issues about making life in this country.”

There’s still one thing in common that all Cubans can agree with.

“What unites all Cubans throughout the United States is a great antipathy toward the Castro regime and the communist government. They’re not popular,” said Amandi.

Marco Rubio is the son of Cuban immigrants, but his parents were not Cuban exiles. They came to the United States years before Fidel Castro took power.

He’s not the only Cuban American running for president. Texas Senator Ted Cruz is also Cuban.