In the hinge state par excellence, Democrats and Republicans are hot on their heels as Hispanic and youth participation grows
One of the toughest battles for the presidency of the United States is fought 1400 kilometers from Washington in the State of Florida home to the most thriving Hispanic population in the country destination of a good part of the retirees magnet for tourism with its cruises and amusement parks headquarters of the music industry that looks to Latin America
The melting pot of American culture coexists in the peninsula discovered by Juan Ponce de León in 1513 and in which there are as many lakes some 7700 as there are political opinions
The diversity is so wide that this region has managed to keep an entire country on edge in every presidential election since the turn of the century It is the pendular state par excellence marked by the changing profile of the voters who have in their hands 29 of the 270 electoral votes that a candidate needs to be the next president of the country
Electoral attention has been turned in recent weeks in Florida to try to attract voters anyway In 2016 the president Donald Trump won here Hillary Clinton by the minimum 1 of the votes 113000 ballots and now the gap between Democrats and Republicans is also narrow
Candidates accumulate hundreds of miles in trips almost weekly to this State and the campaigns have opened the wallet to make the largest advertising expenseAbout 127 million dollars from the whole country
The undecided are a target but also those who can switch sides We were not such a divided people there was not so much anger says Mary Jane García a 69yearold Puerto Rican who lives in Pembroke Pines north of Miami and who has voted for the Republican Party all her life
Although fed up with the confrontation and noise from Donald Trump supporters she has decided that she will vote for Democrat Joe Biden Racism with this president has been rampant and I do not agree with that he adds
The profile of voters in Florida has leaned on the side of the Republicans since 1994 a Democratic governor has not been elected in the last midterm elections Republican senators renewed their seats and the mayor of MiamiDade County is republican
At the same time the southeast of the peninsula as well as large urban centers such as Orlando and Tampa have consistently voted for Democratic Party candidates 53 million people are registered statewide as Democrats and 51 million as Republicans according to data from the Pew Research Center
But according to researchers the gap is closing more and more in favor of the Republican Party The shift in preferences Pew notes began in 2016 when Trump was elected president
A novel factor in these elections is the greater participation of young people Traditionally seen as apathetic and uninterested in politics their mobilization through social media is reaching the polls
Since early voting began in the state on October 19 they have been seen waiting in long lines at polling stations As of this weekend 257000 young people between the ages of 18 and 29 had already voted a turnout six times that of the same demographic in 2016 according to data from MSNBC In addition a million voters between 18 and 34 years old have been registered more than the last elections
The diversity of the State is reflected in the growth of the Hispanic population and in its ability to vote two out of 10 people who exercise their right in Florida are Latino Its origins are mainly in Cuba Venezuela Mexico Colombia and Puerto Rico Latinos have become a key population for both candidates
About 25 million have registered to vote so far half a million more than in 2016 The Biden and Trump campaigns have tried to reach this diverse demographic that their styles of attracting them are also chaotic the Democrat leans toward the segmentation of the message according to the country of origin of the Hispanic immigrants while Trump appeals to the fear of this population to the supposed socialism of his opponent
The president has consolidated an important base among the Cuban and Venezuelan diaspora that repudiates the governments of their countries A Florida International University poll indicates that six out of 10 Cubans are inclined to vote for Trump
The Republicans campaign messages describe the Democrats as allies of the Castro and Chavista regimes and he has even ventured to say without any proof that Biden will impose a government system like those of Cuba and Venezuela in the United States The idea seems to have permeated on the weekends on the streets of Miami supporters of the president go out in their cars to shout slogans against the Democrats Socialismdistancing Distancing from socialism
A woman puts a Cuban flag on her car at a Biden rally in Miami
A woman puts a Cuban flag on her car at a Biden rally in Miami LYNNE SLADKY AP
With a giant flag Osvaldo Hernández a 55yearold radiologist technician takes to the streets of Miami to show his support for Trump He has met with a group of Cubans who like him were exiled from the island in the 1960s The president is doing a tremendous job for example he is trying to get the medicine for the coronavirus as quickly as possible he says before adding that he has no faith in journalists
And he continues almost shouting All communists are democrats and are friends of the Maduro regime Next to him a man walks around wearing a Tshirt that reads Trump 2020 fuck them four more years
In 2016 Trump narrowly beat Hillary Clinton The State thus consolidated at the national level the victory of the magnate who now has his residence in Palm Beach
The distance between Trump and Biden is now 15 in favor of the Democrat according to polls but with each passing day the gap closes more The ghost of the 2000 elections from time to time returns to political gatherings George W Bush beat Al Gore after a recount of the votes in Florida
Then the presidency was decided from this peninsula with a difference of just 537 votes that guaranteed the electoral votes to the Republican The current scenario is far from that but these elections also promise a tight closure in the southern state
Biden has dedicated much of the campaign to reaching those corners of Florida where voters are undecidedor they are not committed to Trumps attack on socalled Democratic socialism His topics before these groups have focused on the economy and the coronavirus crisis
In the port of Miami there are two cruise ships docked and empty The pandemic has hit the tourism industry and you can no longer see the rivers of people descending from the big ships During his visits to Florida Biden has promoted the message that it is urgent to give stimulus to the economy of the peninsula
Eugene Pérez 59 worked for years in the cruise industry and this year he lost his job I was a year away from retiring Really people are suffering a lot and I am very concerned about not having health insurance in the midst of the pandemic he explains
As a neighbor of Broward where a good part of Puerto Rican citizens are concentrated Pérez has approached the events organized by the Democrats because he says he is more convinced of their way of governing Ive spent my entire life paying taxes thats my money and I cant believe that the Trump administration cant find a way to help us now he adds
