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A Miami Herald poll released in early September sent shudders through Democratic circles. It showed that, as usual, Florida was tightly contested, and that Joe Biden has made inroads among older, white voters.
But Democrats were shocked to discover that Biden was trailing Hillary Clinton's 2016 performance among Latinos, when Clinton lost Florida and the national election. While Florida was rated a toss-up, President Donald Trump was said to be surpassing previous Republican presidential contenders among Latinos.
Frank Orlando, director of polling at St. Leo University near Tampa, told NCR that it may well be religiosity and church moral teachings, not national identity, that will play the largest part in garnering the pivotal Latino vote in the pivotal state this year.
In Florida, the Hispanic mix includes Cuban Americans; Venezuelans hit with scarcity and chaos at home; Puerto Ricans who left their island after a string of natural disasters; and newcomers such as Central Americans fleeing poverty and violence. But those national identities often obscure other factors that influence voting.
"It's a tired idea that national identification plays a huge role in Latino voting patterns," said Orlando. | 
