Candidates make final push for minority vote in Florida
MIAMI -- Florida is the fourth largest in terms of electoral votes, but it is a toss up Monday night, so both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are making a last push for the minority vote there.
Florida has 4.5 million minority voters. They’re divided about Clinton and Trump.
Driena Sixto is 22 years old. She’s a Cuban-American, a conservative group that’s warming to Democrats. In 2012, Barack Obama won 49 percent of their vote.
But Sixto despises Clinton.
“I am for Trump because he has been exposing the corruption that runs so deep in this country,” she said. “She is extremely corrupt, she is a liar, she says one thing and does another. She is two-faced.”
Whereas Sixto thinks Trump is generally an attractive candidate.
But Florida’s Hispanic demographics are shifting. Puerto Ricans, now the state’s second-largest group, lean Democrat.
Clinton is relying on a big turnout from Florida’s nearly two million African-American voters.
But early black voting is down seven percent compared to 2012. A grass-roots drive yesterday called “Souls to the Polls” bussed people straight from churches to voting booths.
Will and Val Mabene, both retired union auto-workers, also voted early for Clinton.
“He is desperate now. So he is going to say anything or do anything to get that black vote,” Val said.
In early voting in Florida, the Hispanic turnout was way up from 2012, but the black turnout was down.
If that holds true Election Day, how Hispanics vote here may decide who wins the state -- and the White House.