In 2019, President Trump changed his home address from Manhattan, New York to Palm Beach, Florida. With a win this November, he could become the first Florida man to be elected president; but not if Joe Biden has any say in it.
When court documents came out that Trump had changed his permanent residence from Trump tower to the Mar-A-Lago club, it raised some questions. He is obviously living at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave during his presidency. So, why start this process while in office when he wouldn’t actually be living there?
There have been different theories thrown out and even some sources have said the move was for tax purposes. This is likely true, but knowing how deeply Trump cares about being seen as a winner he likely has other motives too.
After losing the state of New York by a wide margin of over 1 million votes in 2016, while carrying Florida, Trump likely saw an opportunity to not only win the presidential election, but win his own state as well. In addition to this, his shrewd business sense in tax avoidance could set him up well for serving as president for retiring down at the beach. However, Joe Biden is hoping to make it an early retirement.
Although Florida has been seen as a toss up for the presidency for nearly 30 years, Biden might have it made in the Sunshine state as nearly every poll since the beginning of 2020 shows him either in a statistical tie or leading Trump by as much as 11%.
Though polls don’t tell the whole story, it does tell you how those polled are feeling about how things have been going lately and for Florida it’s been a tumultuous year.
When COVID-19 hit the U.S., Florida was one of the states whose economy took the biggest hit. From 2010-2019, Florida was registering over 100 million tourists pouring in to visit amusement parks, casinos, and enjoy other attractions. With little or no traveling happening during 2020, those numbers took a nosedive. For the 1 million+ Florida residents who work in service and entertainment, many have found themselves unemployed, underemployed, and increasingly frustrated that there’s nothing they can do about it.
For Biden to beat Trump in Florida, he not only needs to show that he’s the one who can right the ship, but he also needs to win over Latinos, specifically a formerly reliable GOP voting block in the Cuban-American population.
In 2008, the Obama-Biden ticket won over 35-38% of the Cuban-American vote, and then made greater gains in 2012 against Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, winning 48%. In contrast, Trump won 54% of the Cuban-American vote in 2016 which carried him to a slim victory of just 100,000 votes over Hilary Clinton. With nearly 1.6 million Cuban-Americans living in Florida, Biden carrying a majority of their vote could win him the White House.
