Despite controversial 'trash' joke, President Trump had good relations with Puerto Ricans

A comedian's controversial “floating trash” joke about Puerto Rico at a rally for Republican President-elect Donald Trump in the final days before the election won Trump more support from Puerto Ricans than critics expected. It may not have had any negative impact.

Despite the backlash over a quip made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at Trump's rally in New York City about a week ago on Tuesday, Trump is still in Florida, which has the highest concentration of Puerto Ricans in the state. They won some counties but lost in both 2020 and 2016.

Osceola County, the Sunshine State's most Puerto Rican county, voted in favor of Trump on Tuesday night after voting Democratic in the past two elections in which Trump ran, according to census data. Ta. Meanwhile, Miami-Dade County and Hillsborough County, two other districts with large Puerto Rican populations that Trump lost in 2020 and 2016, also backed Trump this time.

Not only did Mr. Trump gain significant support in Florida counties with large Puerto Rican populations, he also chose a candidate who is a Trump ally to be the next governor in the U.S. territory.

AOC claims Puerto Rico mass rally has ties to anti-Trump movement, slaps community note

Questions about how Trump will deal with Latino voters have swirled ahead of Election Day after Hinchcliffe appeared at Trump's rally and sparked a firestorm with a joke that compared Puerto Rico to a “floating pile of trash.” I started.

“Comments like this motivate us, especially when it comes to influence at the polls,” Ana Valdez, CEO of the Latino nonprofit organization, said ahead of Tuesday's election. , told Barron's that Latinos are not an underrepresented group. “We expect this weekend's comments to further increase turnout in states with large Latino populations, such as Arizona, Nevada, and Florida.”

On October 3, 2017, nearly two weeks after Hurricane Maria struck the area, then-President Trump visited the Cavalry Chapel in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico.

Meanwhile, an unidentified female Puerto Rican voter spoke to CNN on election day and was asked how Hinchcliffe's jokes influenced her choice of supporter. Voters said the joke didn't sit well with them, but concluded that regardless of such comments, “at the end of the day” they wanted to vote for who would give them “a better life in the future.” Ta. The voter added that this was a decision she and her family made together.

I'm Puerto Rican, Kamala Harris intends to continue the destruction of the island by Democrats

Additionally, other Puerto Rican voters in Pennsylvania said Hinchcliffe's joke influenced their support for Trump, even though one of the state's representatives claimed it would have an “undeniable impact” on the election outcome. He told Fox News that he did not.

On January 20, 2020, demonstrators demand the resignation of Governor Wanda Vázquez Garcedo during a demonstration in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

In addition to the support Mr. Trump received among Puerto Rican voters in this election, Puerto Rico's four-way gubernatorial race is dominated by Mr. Trump ally Jennifer González, who previously served as an unvoting delegate in the territory's legislature. The match ended in Colon's victory.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Among Hispanics as a whole, support for Vice President Harris, the 2024 Democratic presidential candidate, was significantly lower than for President Biden in 2020. A majority of Hispanic voters supported Harris over Trump, but the vice president's 8-point victory on Tuesday fell short of Biden's 33 points. Point margin of victory over Trump in 2020.