fbpx

How Did Florida’s Latino Voters Vote?

How Did Florida’s Latino Voters Vote?

The recent midterm elections proved to be a turning point in many states. Voters seemed inspired and the races were tight, especially in Florida where a recount was triggered. This time around, people were more enthusiastic going to the polls, and this included Florida’s Latino community which saw a voter registration increase of 6.2 percent since the 2016 presidential election. A record 2.1 million people registered to vote.

“Hispanics now make up a record 16.4% of Florida’s registered voters, up from 15.7% in 2016. The number of Hispanic registered voters has grown more than three times as fast as the overall number of registered voters in the past two years (6.2% growth vs. 1.8% growth, as of Aug. 31),” according to Pew Research.

Of these voters, Puerto Ricans are the state’s fastest-growing Hispanic-origin group over the past decade.

So how did Florida’s Latino community, which many candidates targeted,  vote during the midterms?

According to Florida’s Division of Elections, more than 2 million Hispanics registered to vote this year, 24 percent belonging to the Democratic Party while 15 percent belonged to the Republican Party.

“The results of so many races were so close that you have to open up your message to everybody, regardless of which language they speak, where they come from, or what their circumstances are,” political analyst Frank Torres told My News 13.

Gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum won the majority of the Latino vote with 56 percent, according to My News 13 Decision 2018 exit poll. Opponent Republican Ron DeSantis had just 42 percent of Hispanic votes.

Latino voters
In this April 18, 2018 photo, Betsy Franceschini, second from left, senior state director of the Florida Southeast Hispanic Federation, briefs a group of canvassers before they go out to register hispanic voters in Orlando, Florida. While Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, they cannot vote in the presidential election while on the island, which is a territory not a state, but their vote has the same weight as other Americans when they move to the mainland, as hundreds of thousands have done over the past decade, first because of a deep economic recession and then because of Hurricane Maria. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

This can be blamed on Trump, said Torres.

“A lot of Hispanics sort of feel like they’re on the outside of the Donald Trump message. I don’t think a lot have been able to connect with the president the way the White House would want them to,” he said.

The race for the Florida U.S. Senate seat showed 55 percent of the Latino vote went to Democratic candidate Bill Nelson. Republican Rick Scott got 44 percent of the Hispanic vote.

“… One interesting that you’re seeing each election cycle is the candidates themselves are speaking Spanish, even though it’s not their first language. They’re attempting to make that connection with Hispanic voters, and whether the language or the delivery is perfect or not, it’s still endearing and a way to connect with Hispanic voters,” Torres said.

A large amount of new Hispanic voters registered chose “No Party Affiliation.”