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Later today Joe Biden will make his first campaign visit of the year to Florida. Opinion polls show a close race against President Donald Trump amid signs of lagging support for Biden among crucial Hispanic voters in the battle state. Trump beat the state in 2016, and his 29 vital Electoral College votes, by just 1.2 percentage points.
Trevor Hunnicutt and John Whitesides report to Reuters that with less than 50 days to go to the election, Biden’s campaign is trying to overcome concerns about enthusiasm among Florida Latinos.
A recent NBC News / Marist poll showed the two White House contenders in a tie in Florida and Trump with a 4-point lead over Biden among the state’s Latinos, a group Hillary Clinton won by 27 percentage points in 2016 , according to exit polls. . Other polls have shown that Biden leads among state Hispanics, but still lags behind Clinton’s support.
“Clearly, there has been a hemorrhage of Hispanic support, mainly Cuban-Americans,” said Democratic State Sen. Annette Taddeo, a Colombian-American. “The Republicans have worked very, very hard, and they have been there constantly.”
The steady pace of Republican attacks on Biden as a socialist has also taken its toll, Florida Democrats said. Last month’s Republican convention featured a Cuban-born Florida businessman, Máximo Álvarez, who compared Biden’s agenda to the promises of the communist government of Fidel Castro.
“We are seeing a massive disinformation campaign in Spanish directed at our community that calls Biden and the Democrats socialists, and it is having an effect,” said Evelyn Perez-Verdia, a Colombian-American Democratic strategist in South Florida.
Florida, where Hispanics make up about 20% of the state electorate, is a lynchpin in Trump’s reelection strategy. No Republican has won the presidency without Florida since Calvin Coolidge in 1924.
Ahead of Tuesday’s events in Tampa and Kissimmee, two Florida cities with large Puerto Rican populations, Biden said, “I’m going to work like hell to make sure I get all the Latino and Hispanic votes.”
He will get help from former Democratic primary rival Michael Bloomberg, who will spend $ 100 million on Biden’s behalf in Florida with a particular focus on Latino voters.
Polls show that Biden is ahead of Clinton’s level of support in 2016 among seniors in Florida, another crucial voting bloc, and among white voters, giving him many avenues to reach a majority, Democrats said.
