GOP Needs Increasingly Hispanic Florida in 2016, Says Nate Cohn

Nate Cohn over at the New York Times looks at Floridas role in the 2016 presidential election and argues that Republicans need to carry the state even as the Hispanic population grows in the Sunshine State.

The next Republican nominee Floridian or otherwise will need every bit of help he or she can get. Thats because Floridas non-Hispanic white voters have plummeted since 2000, to 67 percent from 78 percent, according to the Census Bureau. The number of eligible Hispanic voters doubled over that period, and the states new Hispanic voters arent Republican-leaning Cubans. They include Democratic Puerto Ricans, who have flocked to the Orlando-Kissimmee area, and other non-Cuban Hispanics settling elsewhere in the peninsula. The newest Cuban voters arent as Republican as their parents, either; younger, third-generation Cuban-Americans didnt grow up during the Cold War.

The influx of Democratic-friendly Hispanics and broader Democratic gains among Hispanics combined to flip Floridas Hispanic vote. According to the exit polls, President Obama won Floridas Latinos by a 21-point margin, 60 to 39 percent, a reversal from 2004, when Latinos voted for George W. Bush, 56 to 44 percent.

Cohn also argues that former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be tough for Republicans to beat in Florida even if favorite sons like former Gov. Jeb Bush or U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., are the GOPs nominee. The article can be read here.