A new poll released on Tuesday shows a big shift in opinion by the Cuban-American community in South Florida: For the first time since pollster started asking the question in 1991, a majority (52 percent) of Cuban-Americans said the U.S. should end its embargo of Cuba.
"We are witnessing a clear demographic shift with younger and more recently arrived Cubans favoring a change in policy toward the island," said Professor Guillermo J. Grenier, one of the co-principal investigators of the Florida International University Cuba Poll, in a statement.
Just how significant is the swing? Back in 2011, 44 percent opposed the U.S. embargo of Cuba. In 1991, 87 percent of Cuban-Americans supported the embargo.
Interestingly, when you include only registered voters, 51 percent of them support continuing the embargo.
Still, the poll also found that 68 percent of respondents favor restoring diplomatic relations with Cuba.
U.S. policy toward Cuba has played a significant role in national politics, because Cuban-Americans have remained a strong voting block in an important swing state.
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