The Threat of Socialism Is Dividing Miami Cubans Ahead of the Election

[MARGINS6729]

This is basically the same story every time- Cuban voters are about 60% Republican-40% Democrat. Younger Cubans and those who came to Florida more recently are more Democratic/up for grabs while older Cubans who immigrated to Florida in the sixties, seventies, eighties, and their off spring who have the same political beliefs as they do are Republican. Cubans aren't monolithic and they are not the dominant Latino voting bloc in Miami-Dade and in Florida that they used to be because of an influx of other Latinos to the state and the younger generation/recent arrival Cubans that I mentioned above. Gillum and Nelson's underwhelming performance in the county in 2018 was not because of Cuban Republicans who voted for Hillary all coming home. It was because Cuban DEMs and non Cuban Hispanic DEMs didn't turn out enough at the polls thanks to lackluster outreach while the GOP's smear campaign against Gillum incited Cuban/Latino Republicans to come out in droves which resulted in close to presidential level turnout raw votes wise for the GOP in the county.

The rise of Bernie Sanders and  the "Democratic Socialist" label being used directly by people in or associated with the Democratic party has given Republicans more potency in their age old tactic and Trump's hardline Cuba policies have built up more enthusiasm and support with them than in 2016 where Obama's opening up of relations(and Hillary's support for them continuing) had already caused friction in the community even though enthusiasm was not that high for Trump. The problem for Florida Democrats isn't Cubans(they have been continuing to work on building inroads with them)- it's Venezuelans who have not been overwhelming in their support for either party. Trump and the GOP have gone after them hard by enacting sanctions and fervent opposition to Maduro which were and are popular amongst some of them. The new information regarding Trump's feelings about Juan Guaidó  and him saying he would be willing to sit down with Maduro as well as his opposition to TPS for Venezuelan refugees is enough to counter Trump's support with them if Biden keeps hammering away at it. FDP and Democrats have been doing this as well.