Exodus From Puerto Rico Could Upend Florida Presidential Vote in 2016

This post is from an article in The Washington Post By Mary Jordan, with Scott Clement contributing in Washington.

As U.S. citizens, Puerto Ricans find it relatively easy to register to vote, and they are attracting unprecedented attention because they could change the political calculus in a state that President Obama won by the thinnest of margins in 2012: 50 percent to 49.1 percent.

Puerto Rico, a U.S. commonwealth, has been struggling with $72 billion in debt and soaring unemployment. The Pew Research Center calculates that the island’s population dropped by 11,000 people a year in the 1990s, but between 2010 and 2013, the loss accelerated to 48,000 a year. This year, with economic problems growing, the number leaving for the mainland is even higher.

Florida, particularly the area around Orlando in central Florida, has become the hottest destination for Puerto Ricans. Puerto Rican professionals and entrepreneurs also are relocating there, which they see as a welcoming place where it is ever easier to find a shop with a Puerto Rican flag, food and music. In addition, a growing number of Puerto Ricans from New York, Chicago and elsewhere on the mainland are moving to central Florida, or, as many call it, “Little Puerto Rico.”

Puerto Rico’s party system is different from the U.S. system. Though there is no general-election presidential vote, there are Republican and Democratic presidential primaries on the island, and delegates are sent to the national conventions. Puerto Rico’s party system is different from the U.S. system. Though there is no general-election presidential vote, there are Republican and Democratic presidential primaries on the island, and delegates are sent to the national conventions.

Puerto Rican voters tend to lean Democratic, but a great number of the newcomers do not identify with any party, making them appealing targets for politicians and recruiters on both sides. Like those living in other U.S. territories, people in Puerto Rico cannot vote for president in the U.S. general election.

Anthony Suarez, president of the Puerto Rican Bar Association in Florida, has helped organize a bipartisan forum that he calls “Political Salsa” to engage newcomers on the issues.

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