Cuban Support For GOP Softening

Younger exiles show less interest in Cuba and are more engaged in national issues, Democratic pollster Sergio Bendixon says. "They give Cuba almost no importance," he said. "For them it's education, health care, and Hispanic issues such as immigration."

On top of that, new arrivals from the island are less enthusiastic about isolating Cuba, in large part because they still have relatives there. The number of Cuban-Americans in Miami-Dade County who support dialogue with the Cuban government has risen from 40 percent in 1991 to 65 percent, according to a poll by Florida International University. In one recent poll conducted for the Democratic Party in two heavily Cuban-American congressional districts in Miami-Dade County, voters rated getting rid of Castro sixth among their concerns. Their top priority was getting out of Iraq.

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