Florida International University released a new poll on Tuesday 17 June, that surveyed how Cuban Americans in Miami view U.S. policies towards Cuba. Over the past few years poll after poll has shown how the opinion of the majority of Cuban Americans has chnaged to now favouring engagement with the Cuban government and a change in U.S. policy. However, FIU’s latest poll is the most impressive yet. It shows a clear shift among younger Cuban Americans, aged 18-29, who present an even larger majority in favour of engagement and U.S. policy change towards Cuba.
It is ever clearer in Miami, the hub of the Cuban-American community, that U.S. policy towards Cuba ino longer reflects the majority of Cuban-Americans' opinion, nor the majority opinion of all U.S. citizens. Here are the results:
• 52 percent of all Cuban-American respondents oppose the continuation of the embargo; the percentage rises to 62 percent of Cuban Americans ages 18-29 who oppose the embargo.
• 68 percent of all Cuban-American respondents and 90 percent of younger Cuban Americans favor diplomatic relations with Cuba.
• 69 percent of all respondents and 89 percent of younger Cuban Americans favor the lifting of travel restrictions that limit all U.S. citizens from traveling to Cuba.
• 71 percent of all respondents support the continuation of “people-to-people” travel opportunities.
• 53 percent of all registered voters surveyed and 75 percent of younger Cuban Americans who are registered to vote responded that they would be very likely or somewhat likely to vote for a candidate for political office who supported the reestablishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba.
Proponents of the embargo in Congress who claim to represent the majority of Cuban Americans, and even more specifically, Cuban Americans from Miami, clearly no longer do so.
It is going to be very interesting to see how these polls translate into real votes in the November gubernatorial and mid-term federal elections.
If you are a U.S. citizen you can influence your Congressman by clicking on the link below:
Send an email to your members of Congress and tell them that now is the time to engage with Cuba!
