Latino voters being credited for Pres. Trump's victory in Florida
ORANGE COUNTY, FL - Latinos are widely credited for President Trump’s victory in Florida.
A population both campaigns had been courting but political science professor Pavielle Haines says the Trump campaign had the winning strategy.
“There is this tendency to treat Latinos as this monolithic group,” said Pavielle Haines, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Rollins College.
The Rollins College professor explains that the Latino voter base is very diverse, telling FOX 35 that "the Trump campaign picked up on that unlike a lot of political campaign have failed to do,” and that “it’s not so much that he courted Latino voters, as a whole, he was very specific about courting Cuban and Venezuelan-Americans.”
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Haines says the President portraying Joe Biden as a socialist was a determining factor.
“The Trump campaign, homed-in on something that makes this group of Latinos really unique, which is their negative experiences with socialism in their home countries,” said Haines.
Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
“The last thing they want to hear is Bernie Sanders’ agenda being proposed,” said Erika Benfield, Latinos for Trump advocate. She is a Central Florida Latinos for Trump advocate. She was invited to take part in a roundtable discussion with the President earlier this year.
Benfield says the Latino vote is only growing, stating that "it’s not going to go away, it’s going to get stronger and stronger and you’re going to have to earn their trust, no matter who wins this election."
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“Eventually, it will reach a point where a candidate simply is going to struggle quite a bit to win without it,” Haines added.
The professor also credits the president’s success in Florida to the GOP’s focus on getting Latinos into elected positions, as we have seen more over the years.
Tune in to FOX 35 Orlando for the latest 2020 election updates.