UNSV.COM - For Learning English and Much More...
Most of the Cuban-Americans playing dominos
in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood
came to this country as political refugees
to escape Fidel Castro's communist regime.
As the largest Latino group in Florida,
they are a strong political force in the state,
and most tend to vote Republican,
the party they see as more fiscally conservative
and anti-Castro.
Like the majority of Cuban-Americans,
Armando Alba said he strongly supports
Mitt Romney for president.
"I believe he will lift the spirit of the nation
and return us to the tradition,
to the values of this nation
of liberty and democracy.
We do not need help or redistribution from anyone."
But a significant minority of Cuban-American voters
like Raoul Martinez said they will vote for Obama.
"Things were really bad when he took office.
It is still bad,
but it was much worse before."
While Romney may be leading
among Cuban-Americans statewide,
some polls have the president ahead
by a small margin among all Latinos in Florida.
That is because the number of non-Cuban Hispanics
in Florida has grown significantly.
Jessenia Fernandez,
with the non-partisan civic group
Florida Immigrant Coalition,
works to help new citizens
understand their rights and exercise their votes.
Fernandez said most of these new Latino voters
overwhelmingly support Obama,
in part because he endorses the so-called "Dream Act"
to legalize the status
of several million undocumented youth.
Peruvian-American Juana Sopline de Rojas said
immigration reform is the motivating issue
for her in this election.
"So that they can get out of this,
so that they can study.
So that Latinos can study
and then after they can get their papers."
In trying to get new voters
for both parties to the polls,
Fernandez says voters who are undecided
about whom they support may not vote at all.
"Those are the people
who are not that enthusiastic about this election.
They are kind of like "iffy" [not sure].
They are [thinking],
'I do not know if I am going to vote
for this person or that person.'
But if they already have in their minds
that they are going to vote,
they already know who they are voting for
and they are enthusiastic about it."
In Florida,
the growing number of non-Cuban Latinos
help give Democrats an advantage
in numbers of registered voters.
But most polls either give Romney a slight edge
or say the race is too close to call.
Subtitled by www.unsv.com.