Nov 5, 2008 9:26 pm US/Eastern
The Obama Appeal To South Florida's Hispanics
Obama's Success With Florida's Latinos Was Due To The State's Mix Of Hispanic Voters Who No Longer Have An Allegiance To The Republicans
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
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Obama benefited from widespread Latino disgruntlement with the Bush
Administration over the economic crisis and the war in Iraq.
CBS
President-elect Barack Obama won 57 percent of Florida's Hispanic vote, compared to 42 percent for Sen. John McCain, according to some private Hispanic polling firms, which would mark the first time in recent memory that a Democrat carried the state's Hispanic vote.
In 2000, Cuban-Americans - who leaned heavily Republican - accounted for about 70 percent of the state's Hispanic electorate. This year, they're likely to represent less than 50 percent.
The reason: a huge influx of Central and South Americans in South Florida and a large Puerto Rican population in the Orlando area. Most of these groups tend to favor Democrats.
But even some voters who would normally vote Republican are changing to a Democrat vote.
"I've been a Republican all my life and this is the first time I vote Democrat," said Colombian-American Peter Pardo.
A fear campaign and attack ads are to blame in Pardo's case.
He said, "the hatred from the Republican Party toward the Democratic Party" was what made him change sides.
Obama is said to have also managed to get a sizable amount of Cuban-American votes.
"The primary issue in the minds of many of the Cuban-American voters who went to the polls this time was not Fidel Castro and Cuba, but their own pocketbooks," said Miami Herald Analyst Andres Openheimer.
Some exit polls, showed Obama capturing 35 percent of Cuban-American voters, which would have doubled Kerry's take in 2004 and matching Bill Clinton's strong performance in 1996.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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