Florida Hispanics Abandoning GOP

Take a look at this for another sign Florida Republicans are in for some trouble with the Hispanic vote in 2008.

According to the latest Florida International University poll of Cuban Americans in Miami-Dade, 65 percent support a dialogue with the Cuban government, up from 40 percent in 1991. In another recent survey conducted for Democrats of two heavily Cuban-American congressional districts in Miami-Dade — represented by Republicans Lincoln Díaz-Balart and his brother Mario — voters rated getting rid of Castro sixth among their concerns. Their top priority for Congress: getting out of Iraq. President Bush’s approval rating was 39 percent, only a handful of points higher than in national polls.

It sounds like to me these districts’ constituents would be better served by Democrats than the pro-Iraq war Diaz-Balart brothers. It’s time we begin testing the waters in these districts. While Republicans have relied on these districts for years simply based on anti-Cuba rhetoric, it’s not going to work anymore.

The article continues on about the loss of Hispanics in the GOP:

Hispanic voters in Miami-Dade County, regarded for years as a solidly Republican catch for statewide and national candidates stumping in Florida, are increasingly becoming free agents.

Less than half of the county’s Hispanic voters are registered Republicans, down from 59 percent less than a decade ago, The Miami Herald found. Like newer voters elsewhere in the state and the nation, more Hispanic voters are rebuffing political parties: One out of four in Miami-Dade are registered as nonpartisan. In Broward County, one in three Hispanic registered voters are unaffiliated with either party.

”It’s a trend that I’ve seen happening, and obviously it concerns me,” said Jose ”Pepe” Riesco, vice chairman of the Miami-Dade Republican Party. “It’s a problem we can’t run away from.”

Even the Republicans are admitting it, they are beginning to lose the Cuban-American vote and more largely the Hispanic vote all together. It doesn’t take much thought to figure out why. When the Republican Party’s top nominees all refuse to attend one of the largest Hispanic conferences in Florida, while all of the major Democrats show up, the Republican Party begins to look, shall we say, a little less appealing. In the past, Republicans have been able to rely on their platform solely of smearing Cuba to win the Cuban-American vote, however now young Cuban-American voters are demanding much more than that.

Those independent voters tend to be younger Cuban Americans or naturalized citizens from Central America and South America, many of whom worry more about securing healthcare than toppling Fidel Castro, according to more than two dozen interviews with voters and Hispanic leaders.

Health care, Iraq, education, jobs? Don’t expect Republicans to talk to Cubans about any real issues any time soon. Republicans have used Cuban voters for many years and have given them nothing in return. They have made Cuba a wedge issue, trying to divide voters rather than unite.

Other good news:

Amid the nationwide backlash against the GOP in 2006, Hispanics in Florida favored the Democratic candidates at the top of the ballot for the first time in 30 years, exit polls show. Hoping to build on that success, the state Democratic Party has tapped Luis Garcia, the only Cuban-American Democrat representing Miami-Dade in the Legislature, to serve as vice chairman.

When thousands of Hispanic leaders convened at conferences in Orlando and Miami this summer, the Democratic presidential candidates were there to court them. At the Orlando event, Democratic front-runner Sen. Hillary Clinton seized on remarks by potential GOP rival Fred Thompson that seemed to suggest that Cuban immigrants posed a terrorist threat. (He was actually referring to spies.)

”Democrats have resolved that we are not going to make the mistakes of 2000 and 2004, when for all practical purposes, the Hispanic vote was written off,” said Miami pollster and paid Clinton advisor Sergio Bendixen.

In 2008, we can build on our past successes from 2006, further expand our Hispanic majorities, particularly into the Cuban-American community, and finally push for changes in our state that will help all Floridians. We have an opportunity to pick up those Miami House districts, as well as seats in the Florida House and Florida Senate.