Why did Trump get 30% of the Hispanic vote? In South Florida, Hispanics love him (yet he can famously be heard talking about building a wall, which would have kept them and their family out)
Hispanics in South Florida (or their ancestors) came by sea, not land. A wall wouldn’t have kept them out.
Despite US culture’s obsession with slotting people into racial categories like “Hispanic”, Cubans in Florida actually have very little in common with Mexicans and Mexican-Americans in California, Texas and the Southwest.
Excuse my ignorance but, if South Florida had a wall, couldn't people not get in by sea? I know Trump was not discussing adding a wall to anything other than the southern border. I just felt that the premise of "I want to keep Hispanics from entering the country" would apply to people coming by sea as well.
Are you asking if, theoretically, a wall could be built in the sea to keep Cubans from reaching Florida?
Whether that’s the case or not, I’m not sure how it’s relevant to the discussion of who Florida Cubans align with politically, since it hasn’t been proposed or discussed by Trump or anyone else.
I'm sure there are as many reasons as people, but I would guess one common thread might be that the ones who came here legally resent the ones that broke the law to come here.
Perhaps because news media, created by people no less fallible than you and I, are intent on casting him and his supporters in a certain light. Many directing this will claim fears, some real, some imagined. Personally, I'm more disturbed by the implication behind the congratulatory applause they gave at his predecessor's send off from the final Whitehouse correspondents dinner.
Hispanics in South Florida are a very different group from Hispanics in the US generally. The typical Hispanic in the US context is a poor migrant from Mexico. The typical Hispanic in Florida is a rich refugee from Cuba.
Is there any particular reason to conceive of these people as belonging to the same interest group(s)? No. Do they even like each other? No.
South Florida is a bit of an unusual case. Cubans, understandably, are suspicious of socialism and really love Ronald Reagan. Republicans tend to benefit from these things.
