In something of a surprising turn of events, a new survey from a polling group called Quantus Insights has shown that Republicans have a chance to win over another demographic that could help them flip a number of states that have moved Republican in past elections, namely New Jersey and Pennsylvania, red.
In fact, that poll, which targeted Puerto Rican voters to determine what policies they are interested in and what their priorities are, found that about half of the demographic, including those living in the United States, is amenable to the idea of voting for Trump’s party if he helps fix the electrical grid on their home island, as its disastrous state of repair has been negativelyl impacting their families.
The new Quantus poll is very interesting, and potentially of quite a great deal of importance to Republicans, in that it shows a potential path to victory in New Jersey, a longtime blue state that has been trending toward MAGA for years, and now looks like it could finally flip red in this gubernatorial election.
The opportunity that Quants Insights appears to have found stems from the fact that the Puerto Rican electrical grid is now for being utterly dysfunctional, characterized by rolling blackouts, mismanagement, and crumbling infrastructure. As a result, the Quantus-polled 512 registered Puerto Rican voters who lived across Florida, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania said that the grid is a disaster, they think Trump should fix it, and if he does, they’d seriously consider voting for him.
Amongst the Quantus findings were the facts that, “95% rate Puerto Rico’s electrical system as either poor or fair”, “57% say they personally know someone who has been negatively affected by the grid”, “83% believe Donald Trump should prioritize fixing the island’s electrical system”, and “50% say that if Republicans led the effort to fix the electrical system, they would be more likely to vote Republican.”
Paired with that, the disastrous mismanagement engaged in by the current crop of managers and consultants was a major point of fury, with more than 90% of those polled furious over facts like “consultants for the board have been paid $2 billion, with some firms billing up to $4 million per month” and “94% are concerned that the board chair makes $625,000 annually, with added benefits like a house, car, and security detail.”
So, cleaning up corrupt contracting and firing overpaid managers who are doing a terrible job could be a way for President Trump to score an easy win for MAGA candidates in upcoming elections, as reform seems necessary and some fixes are obvious, and could lead to winning over a new demographic that would give the GOP a slight edge in a few swing states.
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Further, the news is relatively promising as President Trump has already made inroads not just with Hispanics generally, but with Puerto Ricans specifically: in the 2024 election, for example, only 57% of Puerto Rican voters in Pennsylvania supported Harris, a 21-point drop from their level of support for Biden in 2020. So, there is a big opportunity with the demographic, it would appear, and New Jersey could be a good testing ground for it.