Opposition To Opening Ties With Cuba Softens
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TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) - While Cuban-Americans strong oppose the Castro regime a new poll from a Miami-based firm suggests that opposition to President Obama's initiative to open new ties with the Communist country is softening.
A bare majority of Cuban-Americans back Obama's move, but that doesn't mean anti-Castro politics aren't still a winner in Florida.
According to the survey from Bendixen & Amandi International, 51 percent of Cuban-American adults interviewed March 20 to March 25 said they supported the steps outlined by Obama, including setting up an embassy on the island and easing some economic and travel restrictions toward Cuba. That's up from 44 percent in a poll the firm conducted in December, shortly after Obama's policy was announced.
Among those surveyed in March, 40 percent disagreed, down eight points from the earlier survey.
"In the three months since President Obama's historic announcement, rather than increasing opposition, the study reveals there is now slight majority support amongst Cuban-Americans for normalization of relations with Cuba," Fernand Amandi, principal of the firm, said in a news release announcing the results. "This is groundbreaking new data on U.S.-Cuba relations from the perspective of those most interested in and impacted by the change."
But Cuban-Americans living in Florida still reject the move. A near-majority of Cuban-Americans in the Sunshine State --- 49 percent --- oppose Obama's initiative, while 41 percent support it. That's a contrast with the 69 percent of Cuban-Americans living elsewhere who back the president's move; just 23 percent oppose it.
The feelings of Cuban-Americans in Florida who differ with Obama helps explain why the state Senate has already approved a resolution blasting the move, and the House is likely to follow soon.
The poll also shows a generational split among Cuban-Americans that has become a topic of discussion in recent years. Those born in Cuba and those who arrived before 1980 disagree with Obama's policies, but those born in the United States and later arrivals support them. And while 69 percent of Cuban-Americans age 18-29 support normalization, the number declines with age, until just 38 percent of seniors back the move.
The survey included interviews with 400 Cuban-Americans and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.
The News Service of Florida's Brandon Larrabee and Jim Saunders contributed to this report.
