Views on embargo
Cuban Americans in Miami-Dade County have broad agreement on the decades-long U.S. trade embargo limiting U.S. economic activities in Cuba, which was an attempt to squeeze the Cuban regime.
Few think it’s worked. But many want it to continue.
A total of 44% of people surveyed in a 2020 Florida International University Cuba poll said the embargo hasn’t worked at all and 27% said it hasn’t worked very well.
Just 19% said it worked well and 10% said it worked very well.
Yet, even though seven in 10 said the embargo hasn’t worked, 60% in the 2020 poll favor continuing it.
Overall support for the embargo has declined significantly over time. A far higher share — 78% — favored continuing the embargo in 1997. Still, support for continuation has increased since a low of 34% in 2016.
The question produces one of the biggest divides within the Cuban American community.
Among people who migrated to the U.S. before 1995, 68% favor continuing it. Among people who’ve come since 1995, 56% want to continue the embargo.
Those not born in Cuba are evenly split, with 49% wanting to continue the embargo and 50% opposed. Also, the intensity of support for continuing the embargo is much stronger among those born in Cuba than among those who weren’t born there.
The 2020 FIU Cuba Poll surveyed 1,002 Cuban Americans living in Miami Dade County from July 7 to Aug. 17, 2020.
Interviews were conducted in Spanish and English, on landlines and cellphones.
The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. It’s been conducted periodically since 1991, with many of the same questions asked in poll after poll so trends can be seen over time.
Florida International University FIU’s Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs