The push for the Puerto Rican vote became the focus for both campaigns over the weekend, and the potential impact of the voting bloc got a new spotlight after offensive jokes at a Trump rally in New York City.
At that rally in Madison Square Garden, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe made an offensive joke about the U.S. territory. The comments sparked outrage and led to several prominent Puerto Ricans to endorse Vice President Harris.
Harris herself, while appealing to Puerto Rican communities in Philadelphia Saturday, condemned the racist remarks.
Latino celebrities including Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin all followed with support of Harris. Combined, the stars reach hundreds of millions of followers on social media.
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36 million Latinos are eligible to vote in this presidential election, according to the Pew Research Center, and many of them are Puerto Rican.
Residents of Puerto Rico who live on the island are not eligible to vote, but since they are U.S. citizens, any Puerto Ricans who have permanently moved to the United States are eligible. In places like the battleground state of Pennsylvania, Puerto Ricans are the largest Hispanic group in the state, making up about 8% of the population.
Between 2020 and 2021, the Puerto Rican population living in the U.S. grew some 71% to 5.8 million people.
