Floridians Doubt Trump Policy Changes will Help Cuban People
While showing support for Trump鈥檚 announced changes, Floridians were pessimistic the new policies will improve life for the Cuban people.
Floridians support former U.S. President Barack Obama鈥檚 decision to normalize relations with Cuba over U.S. President Donald Trump鈥檚 recent decision to restrict those relations, according to a statewide survey by the 抖M女仆 Business and Economics Polling Initiative ().听
Overall, 47 percent of Floridians support Obama鈥檚 Cuba policy, while Trump鈥檚 policy changes announced on June 16 in Miami garnered 34 percent support. However, Trump鈥檚 policy changes did receive a plurality of support. The Trump administration鈥檚 plans to prohibit commerce with Cuban businesses owned by the military and intelligence services won support form 43 percent of respondents, while 25 percent opposed and 33 percent said they were not sure.
Trump鈥檚 approval rating among respondents dropped one percentage point from 36 percent in BEPI鈥檚 March poll to 35 percent in this poll, which was conducted June 16-18, immediately following Trump鈥檚 announcement. His disapproval rating jumped six points from 38 percent in March to 44 percent in this latest poll.听 Not surprisingly, Trump鈥檚 approval rating among Republicans stands at 78 percent, while his disapproval was 79 percent among Democrats.
Trump鈥檚 new restriction to only allow Americans to visit Cuba as part of a tour group received 44 percent support, while 32 percent opposed and 24 percent were not sure. His decision to retain an American embassy in Havana was most popular, with 61 percent supporting, 13 percent opposing and 15 percent not sure.
While showing support for Trump鈥檚 announced changes, Floridians were pessimistic the new policies will improve life for the Cuban people. Only 21 percent said the new policies would make life better for Cubans, while 36 percent said they would make life worse, and 43 percent expect no difference. 聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 聽
鈥淒espite support from Floridians for President Trump鈥檚 Cuba policies, they are pessimistic that they will improve the life of the Cuban people,鈥 said , Ph.D., director of the BEPI. 鈥淥verall, people are more supportive of President Obama鈥檚 Cuba policy, while President Trump鈥檚 approval rating in the state continues to drop.鈥
The online survey, which polled 500 Florida residents, was administered through (SSI). The survey has a margin of error of +/- 4.3 percentage points. Responses for the entire sample were weighted to reflect the statewide distribution of the Florida population by gender, race/ethnicity, region, education and age according to latest American Community Survey data. The聽polling results and full cross-tabulations are available at .听
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