# How does the GOP feel about Cuba?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-gop-feel-about-cuba/996439>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [January 21, 2024, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-gop-feel-about-cuba/996439 "2024-01-21T16:00:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2024, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-gop-feel-about-cuba/996439/1 "2024-01-21T16:00:53Z")

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Do they still dislike them for being communist? Do they want better trade? These questions popped up after reading this article where Republican Maria Elvira Salazar refused to allow Democrat Barbara Lee to attend a House Foreign Affairs Committee subcommittee meeting on Cuba. I don’t know much about their positions and was curious. Do they want to attract more Cuban/American voters?

> **[Republican Rep. Salazar blocks Democrat from hearing over her views on Cuba](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/republican-rep-salazar-blocks-democrat-lee-over-cuba-rcna134782)**
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> Salazar called Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., a "communist sympathizer" on social media. Democrats say Salazar was suppressing free speech, like the Cuba regime.

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**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2024, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-gop-feel-about-cuba/996439/2 "2024-01-21T16:03:26Z")

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FWIW:

> **[Most Cuban American voters identify as Republican in 2020](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/10/02/most-cuban-american-voters-identify-as-republican-in-2020/)**
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> Nationwide, 58% of Cuban registered voters say they affiliate with or lean toward the Republican Party, while 38% identify as or lean Democratic.

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**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2024, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-gop-feel-about-cuba/996439/3 "2024-01-21T16:11:24Z")

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As @Whack-a-Mole notes, most Cuban-Americans (particularly in South Florida) are conservative, and have historically voted Republican.

My understanding is that this is because many of them (or, by this point in time, their parents or grandparents) fled Cuba in the late 1950s or early 1960s, when Fidel Castro took over the country. In many cases, those Cubans were wealthy (or at least relatively well-off), and [had their property seized by Castro’s Communist government](https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/u-s--cuba-relations/recovering-properties-cuba-still-far-dream-some-cuban-americans-n271421) (which also seized the Cuban assets of Americans).

These Cuban-Americans have continued to hate Castro, his government, and his successors, and have steadfastly opposed any moves by the U.S. government to loosen economic restrictions imposed on Cuba, or any steps to normalize relations between the two governments.

As those Cuban-Americans have been reliably Republican voters (and donors), they have always had a strong influence on GOP sentiment towards Cuba.