A new survey from Signal Polling and Analytics—conducted after former President Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden—found that the former president is leading among Puerto Rican Americans, a demographic he lost significantly in 2020. This surge in support comes after left-wing pundits and Democrats have seized upon a joke made about the island by insult comedian Tony Hinchcliffe during his set at the beginning of the event, during which he referred to the island as “floating garbage,” a reference to PR’s historic and well-documented trash problem.
The poll, conducted between October 26-28, showed Trump leading among all Latino voters by 10 percentage points. If these numbers hold, it would represent significant gains for the Republican nominee compared to his performance in 2020, when 65 percent of Latino voters supported President Biden, according to exit polls.
In Florida, Cubans were the most supportive of the former president’s re-election campaign, with Trump enjoying a 28-point lead among Cuban American respondents. The poll also showed remarkable support for Trump among Puerto Rican American voters, with the final survey indicating a two-point lead for the former president in this demographic. This would mark another significant gain from 2020, as Puerto Ricans overwhelmingly supported Biden in the previous election.
#NEW FLORIDA poll – Hispanics
? Puerto Ricans: Trump+2
? All Hispanics: Trump+10
? Cubans: Trump+28Cygnal | 10/26-28 | N=600LV
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) October 31, 2024
“Trump lost Puerto Ricans in Florida 66-34 in 2020. PA results were similar. The most recent poll that dropped from Cygnal, conducted mostly after the Madison Square Garden rally, shows Donald Trump winning Florida Puerto Ricans by two points,” elections analyst Red Eagle Politics wrote in an X post. “This is disastrous for Democrats.” The Harris-Walz campaign has sought to capitalize on Hinchcliffe’s joke in the days following the rally. Harris has released multiple ads aimed directly at Puerto Rican voters, while several celebrities have urged people not to support Trump.
Democrats have struggled to turn the joke into an effective line of attack, partly due to comments made by President Biden, who referred to all Trump supporters as human “garbage” during an interview with CNN earlier this week. The White House has since attempted to assert that Biden did not actually make that statement—even though it was captured on video—and has gone so far as to edit the interview’s transcript, possibly in violation of the Presidential Records Act.
