Much of the headlines about President Trump’s Florida victory for the 2020 presidential election point to a huge showing by the Latino community in Miami-Dade County, but there’s a story to be told in Osceola, Central Florida’s largely Hispanic county.
Back in 2016, Hillary Clinton beat President Trump in Miami-Dade County by almost 30 points, 63.2 to 33.8 percent. In the 2020 race, Joe Biden beat President Trump in the same county by less than 8 points, 53.3 to 46.0 percent.
That’s a significant drop off for the Democrats, and many outlets including Politico attribute President Trump’s gain in the county to Miami’s Cuban exile community.
“After four years of non-stop outreach to Miami’s Cuban exile community, Trump cruised to victory in Florida thanks to their heavy turnout that also helped the GOP flip two congressional seats and win big in state House and Senate races,” wrote Politico’s Sabrina Rodriguez.
But what about Osceola County with its significant Puerto Rican population?
Tweet 1 of 2
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) November 4, 2020
It looks as if Biden didn't just underperform in Cuban-American-heavy Miami-Dade, he did far worse than Clinton in Puerto Rican-heavy Osceola Countyhttps://t.co/jg3mHddrjU pic.twitter.com/6fUBRvMx4z
Politico’s Marc Caputo points out that in the 2016 race, President Trump lost Osceola County to Hillary Clinton by 25 points. In 2020, he lost it to Biden by 14 points.
Thus Caputo concludes in his tweet that “Biden’s problem was with at least 60 percent of the Florida Hispanic electorate (if not more).”
Osceola County got some play for Biden campaign, as Joe Biden spoke in Kissimmee back in September (where he infamously played “Despacito” on his cell phone). Jill Biden paid a visit to Kissimmee the weekend before the election.
Cox Media Group
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