{"id":5050707,"date":"2020-07-28T01:48:23","date_gmt":"2020-07-28T01:48:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/malatinonews.com\/?p=5050707"},"modified":"2020-07-28T01:48:23","modified_gmt":"2020-07-28T01:48:23","slug":"it-is-of-utmost-importance-that-puerto-rico-have-a-voice-in-the-biden-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/maln\/2020\/07\/28\/it-is-of-utmost-importance-that-puerto-rico-have-a-voice-in-the-biden-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"“It is of utmost importance that Puerto Rico have a voice” in the Biden campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Recent national polls show former Vice President and the presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden is doing worse than Hillary Clinton in 2016 among Hispanic, Latino voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of the lackluster performance is being blamed on COVID-19 and Hispanics, Latinos’ immediate health concerns, and its effect on their livelihood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a\u00a0new survey<\/a>\u00a0by Voter Participation Center and Voto Latino found that only 46-percent of Hispanic, Latino respondents nationwide say they are extremely motivated and enthusiastic about voting in November.\u00a0That\u2019s bad news for Biden; low voter turnout among Hispanics, Latinos would deal a blow in key battleground states like Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few days ago, the Florida Democratic Party signed a scathing letter\u00a0claiming Biden\u2019s campaign in that state is \u2018suppressing the Hispanic vote by mistreating field organizers, relocating trained staff members without explanation, lack of organizing resources and taking on volunteers who are then left in limbo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hill the former vice president needs to climb with the coveted Hispanic, Latino vote is quickly turning in to a mountain. President Trump is believed to get between 25%-30% of the Latino vote,\u00a0reports\u00a0<\/a>USA Today. A recent poll by Telemundo found that\u00a01 in 4 American Latinos<\/a>\u00a0would vote to re-elect him.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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JOE BIDEN\u2019S AGENDA AND THE LATINO COMMUNITY<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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With 32 million Latinos eligible to vote<\/a>\u00a0this year; Biden is going to need this community in order to be elected next president of the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tatiana Mattas, National Latino Advisor, Biden campaign<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Enter, Tatiana Matta<\/a>, a media executive, former candidate for Congress, and now National Latino Advisor for the Biden campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matta told <\/a>El Nuevo D\u00eda that as part of her role, she hopes to collaborate with the presidential candidate and his team to enhance his plan for Puerto Rico as well as work towards strengthening the relationship with Puerto Rico\u2019s diaspora. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Boston Planning and Development Agency, there are more than 319,000 Puerto Ricans\u00a0living in Massachusetts, the fifth-largest Puerto Rican population in the United States after New York, Florida, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The state’s Puerto Rican population has grown by 60% since 2000, and 20% since 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matta, a Puerto Rican native from the town of Caguas living in Massachusetts,\u00a0says \u201cIt\u2019s of the utmost importance that Puerto Rico has a voice (in Biden\u2019s campaign).” In an interview with BELatina Matta has previously expressed her support toward statehood but has confirmed that she is now working toward prioritizing Biden\u2019s views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The former Vice President has said that\u00a0<\/a>he believes in self-determination for the island, a position that many Puerto Ricans see as an attempt to avoid weighing in on a divisive topic. \u201cI will engage Puerto Ricans \u2014 including representatives of every status option \u2014 in a process of self-determination, listening and developing federal legislation that outlines a fair path forward,\u201d he wrote in an op-ed in the Orlando Sentinel on December 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden won the Puerto Rico primary earlier this month, winning with\u00a074-percent of the vote, while Sen.\u00a0Bernie Sanders<\/a>\u00a0(I-Vt.) garnered 13-percent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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