Joe Biden, during his speech in Kissimmee, Florida.JIM WATSON / AFP
Joe Biden has an on-demand ad for every Latino in the United States: one where the announcer speaks with a Puerto Rican accent in Orlando and another that delivers his message with a Cuban touch in Miami.
The Democratic candidate has traveled to Florida on Tuesday to add supporters in one of the key states in the elections on November 3 and when polls in that region place him close to a tie with Donald Trump.
Given the diversity and complexity of the Hispanic vote, the candidate's team has not wanted to leave out the origins of any of the immigrant communities: Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris set the stage last week when she visited Doral to get closer to the Venezuelan diaspora and arepas for lunch.
The attention Florida receives less than two months before the elections from the candidates is as significant as its importance on election night: it is the largest of the pendular states and has 29 of the 270 electoral votes that any candidate needs to be United States's president.
Hispanics have become a demographic of special political interest in the face of the growth of immigrant communities in recent decades in the region.
Florida mainly concentrates voters with roots in Cuba, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
In addition, Latinos in Florida represent 20% of the voters, a third of them are Cuban-American.
And right there lies the biggest concern of the Biden campaign.
With Donald Trump accusing Democrats of seeking to convert the United States to socialism, Hispanic voters - led by the Cuban vote - appear to be leaning toward a second term for the president.
Trump's strategy is betting that any statement that invokes the Castro or Chavista regimes, even if it is false, will raise suspicions among Latinos in the peninsula.
Cuban-Americans have historically backed Republican candidates and in 2016 they were the key to Trump winning in Florida.
Polls show that today Biden beats Trump by the minimum, 1.6%, after just three months ago the difference had been up to 7%.
In 2016, Trump beat Hillary Clinton by the least: 1%.
Biden has celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month in Kissimmee, a predominantly Puerto Rican community south of Orlando.
The democrat has recognized the work of Latinos and their integration into the United States.
"The successful future of our country depends on Hispanic Americans having the opportunities and tools they need to succeed," he said in a message.
The democrat has criticized Trump for his contempt for Puerto Rico as another state of the United States and for his performance after the disaster caused by Hurricane Maria on the island in 2017. The candidate recalled that this Tuesday Costa's independence is celebrated Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.
"I will always fight for democracy and for those who come to America to seek a better life," he posted on his Twitter account.
Democrats have reinforced the campaign in Florida with visits from Biden and Harris, and have designed a strategy that targets multiculturalism within the Latino community and segment among the diverse origins of voters.
Added to that is the millionaire endorsement of Michael Bloomberg who announced over the weekend the donation of $ 100 million for the Biden campaign in Florida.
The tycoon seeks that Biden's appearances on television and digital platforms encourage voting by mail, a crucial tool for Democrats in the face of the coronavirus pandemic and that is counted before election night in the southern state.
“The Latino community relies less on voting by mail than other communities,” warned former presidential candidate Julián Castro.
The Latino vote is also concentrated in California, Nevada, Texas and Arizona, where at least 32 million Hispanics can vote.
This sector of the population has been the hardest hit by the coronavirus crisis in both the economic and health fields.
31% of COVID-19 cases have occurred in Latinos, according to data from the Pew Research Center.
The pandemic has become a key issue in the campaign for this sector of the population and has begun to awaken an interest that had remained sheltered.
Democrats have also tried outside of Florida to segment their messages by the origin of immigrants in each state, and they also set a message from their candidate with a station wagon in Phoenix (Arizona) or with a reggaeton in Orlando (Florida).
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