S. Fla. Cuban women could sway state’s presidential vote

Posted on October 6, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized

his presidential election will rest on young people energized by Barack Obama, moms wowed by Sarah Palin, blue-collar folks swayed by Joseph Biden and veterans saluting John McCain.

All of that is true, but in South Florida there’s another emerging group in play: Cuban-American women.

LIBERAL ON SOCIAL ISSUES

Were it not for being rabidly anti-communist, the majority of us gals are ”quite liberal,” according to a recent study published by the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami.

No surprise there. Since the 1990s, polls have been showing that Cuban Americans overall are more liberal on social issues than the Republican Party but tougher on communism than many Republicans in Congress.

It’s the gender gap on social issues that could portend trouble for the GOP, based on exit polling in 2004 of the Cuban vote.

On gay unions, gun control and legalizing prescription drugs from abroad, Cuban-American voters split from Bush administration policies, with women leading the way.

On abortion rights, Cuban voters were almost evenly split, with 52 percent of women noting they were pro-choice.

This is what social scientists call “symbolically conservative but operationally liberal.”

But here’s the catch for Obama: On Cuba policy, Cuban-American women turn into Lorena Bobbitt. They want the Castro brothers emasculated — not sweet-talked into ”change” through diplomacy as Obama has proposed.

Cuban-American female voters are even ”more extreme” than men on U.S. policy toward communist Cuba, according to the UM study, ”What to Expect from the Cuban-American Electorate,” at cubanaffairsjournal.org.

TOUGH ON COMMUNISM - See S. Fla. Cuban women could sway state’s presidential vote