The controversial “floating trash” joke about Puerto Rico made by a comedian at a rally for Republican President-elect Donald Trump during the final days before the election may not have had the negative effect on Puerto Ricans’ support for Trump that it did. critics hoped it would have.

Despite the backlash from the joke made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at a Trump rally in New York City about a week before Tuesday, Trump still won several Florida counties with the highest concentration of Puerto Ricans in the state, who lost both in 2020 and 2016.

Osceola County, home to the largest concentration of Puerto Ricans in the Sunshine State according to census data, voted for Trump on Tuesday night after voting Democratic in the last two elections in which Trump ran. . Meanwhile, Miami-Dade and Hillsborough counties, two other districts with significant Puerto Rican populations that Trump lost in 2020 and 2016, also went for Trump this time.

A protester with a Puerto Rican flag attends a rally to protest Donald Trump on June 18, 2019 in Orlando, Florida.

Not only did Trump gain significant support in Florida counties with large Puerto Rican populations, but the U.S. territory also elected a candidate who is a Trump ally as its next governor.

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Questions about how Trump would fare with the Latino electorate began to arise in the run-up to Election Day, after Hinchcliffe created a storm after appearing at a Trump rally and telling a joke that compared Puerto Rico to a “floating pile of garbage.”

“Comments like these motivate us. Latinos are not a group that should be underestimated, especially when it comes to our impact at the polls,” said Ana Valdez, executive director of a Latino nonprofit organization. he told Newsweek before Tuesday’s elections. “We hope this weekend’s feedback will further boost turnout in heavily Latino states like Arizona, Nevada and Florida.”

Then-President Trump visits the Cavalry Chapel in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, on October 3, 2017, almost two weeks after Hurricane Maria devastated the region.

Meanwhile, an unidentified voter of Puerto Rican descent spoke to CNN on Election Day and was asked how Hinchcliffe’s joke may have affected who she chose to support. The voter said the joke didn’t sit well with her, but concluded that “at the end of the day” she wanted to vote for who will give her “a better life in the future,” regardless of such comments. The voter added that this was a decision she and her family made together.

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Additionally, other Puerto Rican voters in Pennsylvania he told Fox News that Hinchcliffe’s joke didn’t affect his support for Trump either, although one of his state legislators insisted would have an “undeniable impact” on the election results.

Protesters demand the resignation of Governor Wanda Vázquez Garced during a demonstration, January 20, 2020, in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

In addition to the ground that Trump gained among Puerto Rican voters in this election, the race for governor of Puerto Rico between four candidates ended with a victory of Trump ally Jenniffer González-Colón, who was previously a non-voting delegate to Congress for the territory.

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Hispanics overall were significantly less supportive of Vice President Harris, the 2024 Democratic presidential candidate, than they were of the president. Biden in 2020. While most Hispanic voters supported Harris over Trump, the vice president’s eight-point margin of victory on Tuesday paled compared to Biden’s 33-point margin of victory over Trump in 2020.