2017 Florida Voters Survey

A new survey of Puerto Rican voters in Central Florida leaves no doubt that this group of Americans wants statehood for Puerto Rico.

VS&C, a major political polling organization, conducted interviews by phone from Puerto Rico with more than 400 Central Florida voters of Puerto Rican heritage.  The typical respondent had moved from Puerto Rico to Florida more than 10 years previously.

About 63% pay attention to news from Puerto Rico. Top sources of that news included TV, internet, and conversations with friends and family in Florida and in Puerto Rico.

85% of respondents said that resolution of Puerto Rico’s status question was very important or extremely important. Only 8% said this issue was not important to them.

Asked how they would react to candidates with different positions on Puerto Rico’s status, respondents preferred candidates who would support statehood. The chart below shows how respondents felt, with 10 being the most positive and 1 the most negative. The 2017 answers are in blue and the answers to a similar survey in 2014 are in red. While respondents were somewhat less positive about candidates who favor the status quo and more positive for those who want a binding statehood bill, the positions are similar to those found four years ago. They clearly favor statehood, with candidates favoring the territorial status averaging just 3.5 on the 10-point scale.

75% of respondents agreed with this statement: “If Puerto Rico were to become a state and added the 51st star to the US flag it would fill me with pride.”

2017 respondents were more likely to vote Republican than the respondents in a similar survey in 2014. However, the majority preference for statehood has not changed since the last survey.

See the Summary of the 2017 Survey.

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