How Puerto Rico Became an Issue in the US Presidential Election

As the candidates for the US presidency work to win over the last undecided voters ahead of a Nov. 5 election that polls suggest will be especially close, one constituency they’ve zeroed in on is Latinos, who make up about 15% of eligible voters, according to a Pew Research Center study. For Republican Donald Trump, the focus went awry when a comedian at an Oct. 27 rally for him insulted Puerto Ricans, the second-largest group of Hispanics in the US, calling their place of origin a “floating island of garbage.”

It depends where they live. Those who reside in Puerto Rico, a US territory, cannot, but those living in the US can, and there are more people in the second group than in the first — about 5.8 million versus 3.2 million. The Puerto Rican vote is regarded as especially important in the swing state of Pennsylvania. The Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College estimates that 3.1% of voters in Pennsylvania are Boricuas, natives of Puerto Rico or people of Puerto Rican descent.