President Obama's Overtures Find Wide 67% Support Among Cuban-Americans

[ClarkUSA]

A poll released Monday by Bendixen & Associates has found that 67 percent of the community now supports the removal of all restrictions for travel to Cuba, an 18-point increase from three years ago, when the same question was asked. Even among older, so-called historic exiles like Mr. Diaz, the survey shows that support for a new approach to Cuba has grown.

“This is across the board,” said Fernand Amandi, an executive vice president at Bendixen, which has been polling Cuban-Americans for more than 25 years... The nationwide telephone survey of 400 adults — the first gauge of Cuban-American opinion since President Obama announced his new policy last week — was conducted April 14-16, and the margin of sampling error is plus or minus five percentage points... Indeed, despite this community’s reputation for loyalty to Republicans, the poll found widespread approval for Mr. Obama: 64 percent supported his new policies on travel and money sent to relatives. An even larger majority, 67 percent, said they had a favorable or somewhat favorable opinion of Mr. Obama, the highest rating among Cuban-Americans for a president in a Bendixen poll since Ronald Reagan in the mid-’80s.

“For the first time since the beginning of Kennedy’s presidency,” Mr. Amandi said, “they are aligning with a Democratic president in his engagement policy with Cuba.”

In Cuban-American homes, the new travel and remittance rules have led to dinner-table chatter about when to go or what to send... For many, contact has come to be seen as a tool of change — an argument running counter to the sanctions of the 1962 trade embargo — even as politics have become less central to “Cubanidad,” or Cuban identity... Cuban-Americans here are no longer so singularly focused on Fidel and Raúl Castro... several exiles at or near retirement who now say they want to receive their Social Security checks in Cuba.

It looks like President Obama's policy decisions and popularity will likely benefit 2010 Democratic candidates in Florida's important Senate race.

[monmouth]

1. This will help to make Florida "true blue."....n/t

[ClarkUSA]

2. I hope so. Republicans must be so depressed at the results of this poll...

... and the one showing Pres. Obama's approval ratings actually rising after the wall-to-wall TV Tea Party coverage.