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I'd like to open up a discussion about trends in Cuban-American political leanings, particularly in South Florida.
I think it's been pretty well established for a long time that many, if not the majority, of Cuban American voters in Florida (if not nationwide) tend to vote for Republicans in elections. IMO a lot of that has to do with emigre politics (anti-Communism and anti-Castro), and the distate of JFK's association with the Bay of Pigs incident.
However, there are a few factors that may tend to push Cuban American voters to evolve if not break away from that traditional strong GOP allegiance, which include:
Generations/Age: Younger C-A voters who grow up largely or wholly in the US may be less likely to be motivated with the attention towards Castro/emigre politics than their parents or grandparents.
Geographic Location: Away from the hotbed or charged atmosphere of South Florida, C-As may often vote for Democrats more often, say in New Jersey, where the Melendezes have been politicians for decades.
Shift in Issues/Concerns: More recent arrivals from Cuba are more likely to have substantial numbers of family members still in Cuba, and would therefore be at least more favorable to liberalizatione of visits or remittances to Cuba, as opposed to a hard like. Also, the ailing condition of Fidel may also suggest that an old foe is not for long. Also, younger voters would be more concerned with standard bread and butter civic/political issues rather than a narrow focus on exile politics.
Would anyone in South Florida like to confirm or elaborate on these points? I live in California and I see the Vietnamese community political dynamics as a parallel to the Cuban experience - there's a lot of that heated anti-Communist rhetoric that gets unfortunately injected way too gratuitously into many civic issues.
Yes, in general your assumption seems accurate. Still many old school older cubans (over 60) still attempt to influence the younger generation to vote republican. Some still will call you a communist if you vote democrat. Those that have no clue about current affairs and don't care either will just simply vote republican because of Kennedy.
Yeah, a lot of observers have been saying what you've said the past several years. Still, it hasn't shown up in the polls. I think it could just be a matter of certain circles still having a major influence in the local political scene though--Mario Diaz-Balart just won my district by default after being the only one who registered to be on the ballot (brother Lincoln is retiring after this term), and it looks like the Diaz de la Portilla is beginning to be their successors. I'm not a fan of either, but I do get a bit of a kick when the national media tries to use their fancy maps to predict everything and just don't get why things haven't changed that much yet.
Yes, Vietnamese are very similar to old Cubans. In fact, back in the 70's CA received and helped many Vietnamese.
Back then, Vietnamese were a common sight in Little Havanna, the only people that were received warmly by Cubans. Not the only Asians, among Cubans there was a rather important contingent of Cantonese-Cubans.
As to your questions, Cubans have developed a Jesuitic duality and now they know how to play with both parties. For example, Cubans might vote for a Democrat for Mayor, but they all vote for Cuban-American Republican congressmen.
Cuban-american foundations and lobbies are now bipartisan, the once all powerful FNCA is now Demopcratic.
Of course, for many people a Democrat amounts to a Communist Hippy or something, if not gay.
Cubans are still present and powerful in the GOP and in the Tea Party mouvement.
As an American of Cuban descent most of what you have stated is true and is happening amongst the younger generation especially during the 2008 election where many young CA's voted for Obama. Most Cubans in Miami do tend to be socially liberal on many issues but island politics rule the older generation. Also many are entrepenuers & business owners so they tend to favor the tax policies of the GOP.
Thank you for your replies. I was thinking about that because in California, there is a self-styled Vietnamese American anti-communist activist (or zealot) called Ly Tong (a former South Vietnamese military officer), who over the years have pulled a lot of antics. His most recent one was to disguise himself as a woman, attend a concert performance by a visiting Vietnamese popular singer, and sprayed him with pepper spray.
He's also hijacked an airplane to drop leaflets over Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), as well as dropping leaflets over Cuba (which might mean that he's pretty well known to CANF people). Here's a link about Ly Tong:
I wonder if there has been similar individuals with this sort of zealousness in the Cuban American community...if you aren't sufficiently anti-Communist, you can be denounced as a Communist. In San Jose, there was a total row over naming a Vietnamese commercial area "Little Saigon" or some other name. Couple of years ago, a young Vietnamese-American city council member thought of a compromise name 'Saigon Business District' or something similar and earned the wrath of many hardline Vietnamese in her district, triggering a recall campaign that she managed to survive. That Ly Tong guy was in the center of it, even engaging in a hunger strike to put pressure on the SJ city council to reconsider or change it.
I think it's fine to have whatever political ideologies - be it Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative, but when highly charged rhetoric colors your bread and butter issues or the political discourse, it tends to degrade the civil process and even somewhat marginalize the groups involved (making it look a bit too self-indulgent).
Yeah, a lot of observers have been saying what you've said the past several years. Still, it hasn't shown up in the polls. I think it could just be a matter of certain circles still having a major influence in the local political scene though--Mario Diaz-Balart just won my district by default after being the only one who registered to be on the ballot (brother Lincoln is retiring after this term), and it looks like the Diaz de la Portilla is beginning to be their successors. I'm not a fan of either, but I do get a bit of a kick when the national media tries to use their fancy maps to predict everything and just don't get why things haven't changed that much yet.
what about any successors to Jorge Mas Canosa? Are his sons active?
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