Central Florida voters are much more likely to vote for candidates who want to resolve Puerto Rico’s status than for candidates who want to keep the status quo in Puerto Rico.
Voter/Consumer Research conducted a new survey of Puerto Ricans living in Central Florida. Respondents were asked a series of questions about hypothetical political candidates. If a candidate took a particular position, they were asked, how likely were they to vote for that candidate, on a scale of 1 (not likely) to 10 (very likely).
The questions included a number of social issues such as prayer in public schools and immigration reform, but there were also several questions designed to focus on candidates’ attitudes toward Puerto Rico.
The candidates most likely to get votes from Central Florida’s Puerto Rican community are those who are ready to resolve the status of Puerto Rico. The highest rating – 8.3 – went to the candidate who would authorize a vote by Puerto Rico to resolve status, indicating that Central Florida’s Puerto Rican voters care about self-determination for Puerto Rico.
Almost as high, at 8.1, were statehood with full representation and direct action by Congress to resolve the status question. In another question, a majority of respondents said that the referendum had already been held and it was time for Congress to honor that vote and move ahead. We can therefore assume that the people who wanted action from Congress were reflecting that view.
A candidate favoring a binding statehood bill averaged 7.5 out of ten, but a candidate who wanted to keep things as they are received only 4.6 out of ten – the respondents would not vote for such a candidate.
The takeaway from this section of the survey is very clear: candidates who want to win with this group of voters must accept responsibility for Puerto Rico’s status, and should remember that the people of Puerto Rico voted for statehood in 2012.
See the results of the survey.
Voter Consumer Research surveying FL I-4 Hispanics of Puerto Rican Origin, Dates: 8/20-9/4/2014
400 Interviews / MoE +/- 4.9%
This post was originally written in English and may be being auto-translated by Google.
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