I-4 Hispanics of Puerto Rican Origin Puerto Rico Statehood Council Dates: 8/20 9/4/ interviews / MoE +/- 4.9%

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1 501 C STREET NE WASHINGTON DC I-4 Hispanics of Puerto Rican Origin Puerto Rico Statehood Council Dates: 8/20 9/4/ interviews / MoE +/- 4.9%

2 Background Conducted 400 interviews in the I-4 Corridor Sampled proportional to the size of the Puerto Rican descent population based on Census data Purchased file of Hispanic surnamed residents Asked respondents if they considered themselves to be of Puerto Rican heritage Most interviews conducted in Spanish Topics: Demographic and political profile News / communications preferences Status resolution Issues and candidates 2

3 STATUS RESOLUTION 3

4 Status Resolution. 1. High priority On the issue of the status of Puerto Rico, how important is it to you that Congress and the President move to resolve the status of Puerto Rico? High importance rating Near universal agreement that the President and Congress should move to status resolution. Extremely important Very important Somewhat important 9% 37% 39% Not very important 9% Not at all important 2% 4

5 Status Resolution 2. Statehood is first choice 64% statehood 18% sovereign country in free association with the US 9% complete independence Comparable questions using slightly different wording suggest an increase in importance since polling conducted earlier 51% become the 51 st state 39% retain its commonwealth status 6% become an independent nation While the wording changed the results suggest an increase in support for statehood in the course of the last 10 years. That Puerto Rico become a completely independen t nation, 8.5% That Puerto Rico become a sovereign country in free association with the US, 17.7% None / other / no change (DNR), 5.1% Don't know (DNR), 3.8% Refused (DNR), 0.6% That Puerto Rico become a state, 64.2% 5

6 Status Resolution 3. Referendum held, move forward to statehood And which do you agree with more (ROTATE) The position that Puerto Rico already had a referendum in which a majority supported statehood, that we should move forward with the statehood option / or / The position that there was no clear majority for statehood, that all options should be considered including modifying the territorial status Referendum held, move 57.6% forward with statehood Consider all possible options 30.4% Neither / other 2.5% Don't know 8.6% Refused 0.9% 30.4% 8.6% 0.9% 2.5% 57.6% 6

7 Status Resolution 4. Majority prefers statehood over attempts to fix territorial status Some people have proposed to modify Puerto Rico s territorial status by making changes to meet legal requirements under federal law. Of the following two opinions which is closer to your own (ROTATE) The position that keeping territorial status by making changes is the best solution for Puerto Rico / or / the position that the federal government has already said that fixing territorial status is impossible, that statehood is the best solution for Puerto Rico 27.6 % 58.5 % Neither / other solution 5.6% Don t know 8.0% Refused 0.3% 5.6% 58.5% 8.0% 0.3% 27.6% 7

8 Status Resolution 5. Moderate awareness but high support for referendum with options approved by DoJ Congress approved funding to conduct a referendum on Puerto Rico s status. Options would have to be approved by the Department of Justice Were you aware of Congress action? 33% aware Do you approve of referendum with options approved by DoJ? 74% approve (42% strongly approve) 13% disapprove Aware Not Aware Strongly approve Somewhat approve Somewhat disapprove 7% 33% 65% 42% 32% Strongly disapprove 6% 8

9 Status Resolution 6. High support for yes / no referendum on statehood And specifically, if Congress ordered a yes or no referendum on statehood, would you approve or disapprove? (PROMPT) And do you strongly or just somewhat (approve / disapprove)? Strongly approve 52.7% Somewhat approve 22.9% 9.2% 1.0% Somewhat 7.0% 7.2% disapprove Strongly disapprove 7.2% Don't know 9.2% 7.0% Refused 1.0% 52.7% 22.9% 9

10 DEMOGRAPHIC AND POLITICAL PROFILE 10

11 PROFILE 1. Long Time Residents of the US 1. Most are long term US residents of the mainland, very few left Puerto Rico within the last 5 years. 2. Most did not come to Florida directly, but came by way of the Northeast: 12% moved from Puerto Rico to Central Florida 51% first moved to New York / New Jersey before moving to Florida 3. Many are in the upper age brackets 33% over 65 Only 46% under 55 Don't know (DNR), 0.4% My entire life (DNR), 12.7% Refused (DNR), 1.1% Under 1 year, 1.4% More than 10 years, 72.1% 1 to 2 years, 1.7% 2 to 3 years, 0.3% 3 to 5 years, 2.2% 5 to 10 years, 8.1% 11

12 PROFILE 2. Religious affiliation While majority is Catholic a significant segment describes itself as Evangelical or unaffiliated with a specific denomination Most attend church services on a regular basis, relatively few attend services more than once a week. Catholics more likely to report weekly church attendance More frequent church attendance Agnostic / Atheist, Other 0.9% / non- Christian, 4.5% Jewish, 0.5% Dont know (DNR), 2.4% Other Christian / Evangelical, 33.4% concentrated among Protestants Protestant2.0% Catholic, 46.1% Refused (DNR), 3.7% 13.3% 6.0% 9.2% 29.5% 40.0% Protestant, 8.7% Catholic 9.3% 10.9% 20.8% 15.3% 36.4% 5.9% Other Christian / Evangelical 10.3% 11.9% 14.2% 13.6% 33.9% 15.7% Never Once or twice a year Once or twice a month Almost every week Every week More than once a week 12

13 PROFILE 3. Registration and partisan affiliation 1. Very high voter registration rate: 92% 2. Both registration and vote behavior tilts Democratic by a substantial margin: Registered 55% Democratic, 19% Republican 32% votes straight Democratic, 15% mostly for Democrats As of today 45% would vote for the Democratic candidate for Congress, 19% for the Republican, 25% said it would depend on the candidate 3. But Conservative: 45% conservative 29% moderate 17% liberal 43% of the registered Democrats are self-described conservatives Republican 8.2% 19.3% Democrat Independent / Decline to State 18.4% 27.7% 34.7% 26.2% 67.4% 42.6% 44.3% Liberal Moderate Conservative 13

14 PROFILE 4. Differences in party preference We found little or no correlation between the demographic profile of I-4 Puerto Ricans and their partisan preferences. The only significant exception is religious preference: Evangelicals, and Protestants who frequently attend church services are more likely to support Republicans. 14

15 DEMOGRAPHIC AND POLITICAL PROFILE 15

16 ISSUES AND POLITICS 1. Issue priorities 1. Economy is a top priority 2. Also important education and health care. Possibly reflecting their age, education was a lower priority to this group then we usually find among Hispanics. 3. Crime and drugs was mentioned as often as education and health care. References to crime and drugs were far more prevalent than we normally see 4. Relatively few people mention traditionally conservative priorities like taxes and moral / values issues. Education Jobs and the economy Taxes Crime and drugs Moral values 7.4% 7.1% 22.6% 27.6% 39.8% The cost of housing 14.7% Health care 26.1% 16

17 ISSUES AND POLITICS 2. State of the economy Pessimistic view of the economy. Consistent with listing economy as a top concern More pessimistic than most surveys but consistent with other Hispanics About the same, 31% Unsure, 4% Better shape, 26% Worse shape, 30% 17

18 NEWS AND COMMUNICATIONS PREFERENCES 18

19 NEWS AND COMMUNICATIONS 1. Language choice Most survey participants principally relies on Spanish language news sources, very few principally rely on English language new sources. While preference for Spanish language sources dominates, this is slipping a bit: 72% prefers to speak Spanish when discussing the news with others. Dont know (DNR), 0.5% Mixture of the two (DNR), 28.2% Refused (DNR), 0.2% Spanish language, 61.2% English language, 9.9% 19

20 NEWS AND COMMUNICATIONS 2. News from Puerto Rico Most participants report paying a great deal or a fair amount of attention to issues and news from Puerto Rico The level of interest has increased compared to previous surveys Demographics: Age is not a factor. Gender is, men pay more attention then women. Interest is high regardless of when they left Puerto Rico. Interest is lower among people born in the US. The more interested, the greater the preference for Spanish language sources A great deal of attention A fair amount of attention Little or no attention 32% 23% 44% 20

21 NEWS AND COMMUNICATIONS 3. News sources. Television news 49.7% Television continues to dominate as a source of news. Comparatively few people rely on Internet news sources Similarly, radio and newspapers are less important sources. Reported newspaper use is quite low Word of mouth both with contacts in the US, but even more with contacts in Puerto Rico are mentioned more often than we usually find. Television advertising Telemundo Univision Radio news Radio advertising Newspaper news 10.6% 13.8% 12.0% 7.9% 3.0% 7.2% internet websites 17.7% Talking to friends, family and neighbors in Florida / in the US 9.0% Talking to friends, family and neighbors in Puerto Rico 21.9% 21

22 ISSUES AND CANDIDATES 22

23 ISSUES AND CANDIDATES 1. Elected public officials Consistent with their Democratic orientation, President Obama remains popular But Puerto Ricans living in the I-4 corridor are not blindly partisan They have a favorable impression of Jeb Bush by a 15% margin and Marco Rubio by a 9% margin. Rick Scott s numbers are net negative, but a substantial portion has not formed an opinion of him. Governor Garcia Padilla is not well known, but to the extent he is he receives a net negative rating President Barack Obama 41.3% 23.8% 11.5% 15.3% Former Governor Jeb Bush 22.4% 23.2% 11.8% 16.7% Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla 7.5% 10.7% 12.2% 22.5% Former Governor Luis Fortuno 17.9% 15.8% 11.6% 13.7% Former Governor Charlie Crist 16.2% 24.5% 11.1% 16.1% Senator Bill Nelson 12.0% 21.4% 3.0% 5.4% Governor Rick Scott 11.8% 16.0% 10.3% 26.8% Senator Marco Rubio 16.9% 18.8% 10.9% 16.0% Congressman Pedro Pierluisi Dr. Ricky Rosello 14.8% 15.2% 13.7% 5.3% 4.7% 13.0% 3.7% 7.1% Favorable / strongly Favorable / somewhat Unfavorable / somewhat Unfavorable / strongly 23

24 ISSUES AND CANDIDATES 2. Issue preferences: status resolution Average scores on 0 to 10 scales Each question described a hypothetical candidate taking a position. Each questions started with someone who ; for instance question at top of chart: Someone who wants to keep the territorial status of Puerto Rico without changes. Consistent with questions on status resolution, Puerto Ricans residing in the I-4 corridor would strongly support someone who would support Congressional action on status resolution and a binding referendum as well as candidates who favor statehood. Keep territorial status without changes Congress to resolve the status of Puerto Rico Supports a binding statehood bill for Puerto Rico Congress to authorize a vote by Puerto Ricans to resolve status Wants PR to become the 51st state with 2 Senators and 5 House Members

25 ISSUES AND CANDIDATES 3. Issue preferences: social issues While they are mostly Democrats, Puerto Ricans residing in the I-4 corridor are also strong social conservatives/ By substantial margins they are Pro life Support parental notification Support permitting prayer in public schools Support for prayer in public schools Support for parential notificaiton Pro-life

26 ISSUES AND CANDIDATES 4. Issue preferences: immigration reform Like most other Hispanic groups Puerto Ricans living in the I-4 corridor support comprehensive immigration reform, and by a lesser margin, support a path to citizenship They also agree, by a smaller but still substantial margin, the point of view that are borders should be secured before immigration reforms are passed. Comprehensive immigration reform Path to citizenship for people who are in the US illegally Secure borders before passing any immigration reforms

27 ISSUES AND CANDIDATES 4. Issue preferences: US domestic issue Consistent with their support for the President Puerto Ricans living in the I-4 corridor support the Presidents health care law by a substantial margin Expanding minority home ownership and small business assistance programs are even more strongly supported. Someone who supports Obamacare Expand minority home ownership homeownership Someone who supports programs to assist small business startups