Shared Language, Distinct Politics: South Florida Hispanic Voting Patterns

• In Event: Explaining Minority Voter Turnout

Abstract

The federal Voting Rights Act prohibits voting policies that discriminate on the basis of race, color, or membership in specified language minorities. Hispanics are considered a language minority due to their common usage of Spanish. Yet, in South Florida, language commonalities do not necessarily translate into political cohesion. The sizable Cuban-American community centered in Miami-Dade’s Little Havana are distinctly Republican, a political attachment originating from their anger towards President Kennedy’s decision to withdraw support for the Bay of Pigs invasion by Cuban exiles. Over the decades, Central and South American Hispanic communities have grown around Little Havana, and these Hispanics tend to align themselves with the Democratic Party. Here, we establish the lack of voting cohesion among South Florida’s Hispanics by analyzing Florida’s voter registration database, election results, and census data. We further show Cuban-Americans are more politically active, in terms of their voter turnout, than their Hispanic peers. We demonstrate how Republicans strategically redistrict South Florida to draw overwhelming Hispanic congressional and state legislative districts that have just enough Cuban-Americans so that they elect Republican candidates, to the detriment of representation for Hispanics not of Cuban-American descent.

Authors

• Brian Amos, Wichita State University

• Michael P. McDonald, University of Florida

• Daniel A. Smith, University of Florida