MIAMI — The vast majority of Puerto Ricans in Florida back Vice President Kamala Harris’ White House bid and have a negative view of former President Donald Trump, according to a survey released days after a comedian made offensive comments about Puerto Rico at a Trump rally.

The Puerto Rico Research Hub at the University of Central Florida polled about 150 Puerto Ricans who predominantly live in Central Florida through an online survey in the last half of October. They found that 85% of those polled would vote for Harris while only 8% said they supported Trump. Six percent said that they would vote for an alternative candidate. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 8 percentage points.

Previous polling has also suggested that Puerto Ricans in the state broadly dislike Trump, though he did make inroads in 2020 in areas of Florida with large numbers of Hispanics, including people with roots in the American territory. Thursday’s survey results raise questions about whether comedian Tony Hinchcliffe calling Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” at a recent Trump rally in Madison Square Garden could influence the outcome of some key swing states in a dead-heat race.

The researchers said that they received a lot of responses to their poll after the New York City rally and noted the incident’s close proximity to Election Day.

“This might be a call for action for a lot of people that weren’t thinking about voting but now they have a reason to,” said Fernando Rivera, a sociology professor and the Hub’s director.

According to the poll, 88% of Puerto Ricans said they had an unfavorable opinion of the former president, compared to five percent who had a favorable opinion. Seventy-two held a favorable view of Harris and 10% held a negative opinion.

The researchers noted that despite that there are more than a million Puerto Ricans living in the state, there will likely not be a sizable impact on the presidential election in Florida. Trump is ahead in the state, according to several polls. But they said it remains to be seen whether the comedian’s remarks play a role in states where the race is tight, such as Pennsylvania, home to about 472,000 Puerto Ricans, and North Carolina, which has about 130,000 residents with roots on the island.

The survey also found that Puerto Ricans are also politically engaged in the presidential race, with 69% saying they are paying a lot of attention to developments.

“How ironic it would be that the Puerto Rican vote has the potential to become the October surprise. But obviously, we will see what is the impact of this,” Rivera said. “There’s a lot of communication between Puerto Ricans here and Puerto Ricans in other battleground states such as Pennsylvania.”

The researchers received responses throughout the state, including in areas where there is a high concentration of Puerto Ricans such as Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Hillsborough counties. Dr. Sara Belligoni, a postdoctoral scholar at the Puerto Rican Research Hub, said that the sample of people surveyed had a good representation of age, gender, employment status and location. She noted that most of those surveyed had a bachelor’s degree or above, and the majority were also born in Puerto Rico.

Issues that ranked as important for those surveyed included education, healthcare, cost of living, abortion and reproductive rights. But the researchers noted that policy priorities within Puerto Rican communities can vary depending on when they arrived in Florida or whether they had come from Puerto Rico or another state.

The Trump campaign previously told the Miami Herald in a statement that Hinchcliffe’s joke about Puerto Rico does not “reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.”

The Harris campaign has capitalized on the comedian’s comments as an opportunity to court voters with roots on the island. While Trump was at the rally in New York, Harris met with Puerto Rican voters in Pennsylvania. She also released her policy plans for Puerto Rico that day, which included fostering economic growth, increasing affordable housing and supporting small businesses.

This week, the Harris campaign released a Spanish-language ad featuring a narrator with a Puerto Rican accent. The ad rejects the floating garbage island comparisons, uses Puerto Rican lingo and protest chants, and shows images of notable Puerto Ricans throughout history.

“On Nov. 5, Trump will understand that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” the narrator says, while the ad displays photos of the former president throwing paper towels into a crowd while visiting Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. Many people on the island and across the United States viewed that moment as demeaning and insulting.

Several high-profile Puerto Ricans, including celebrities Ricky Martin, Bad Bunny, and Luis Fonsi, have come out in support of Harris in the days after Hinchcliffe’s remarks. On Thursday, actress and singer Jennifer Lopez opened for the vice president at a rally in Nevada, another swing state. She spoke in support of Harris’ platform and told the audience that Trump at Madison Square Garden “reminded us who he really is and how he really feels.”

“It wasn’t just Puerto Ricans who were offended that day. It was every Latino in this country, it was humanity, and anyone of decent character,” she added.

It is not the first time that Trump comes under fire for offensive comments about the American territory. A former Homeland Security official said Trump once wondered whether Puerto Rico could be swapped for Greenland and described the island as “dirty” and its people “poor.” The Trump administration set onerous restrictions on billions of disaster funds after Hurricane Maria over concerns of mismanagement, slowing down the disbursement of recovery relief. Trump has also previously called Puerto Rico “one of the most corrupt places on earth.”

In the poll, just over half of Puerto Ricans were registered Democrats, while 38% had no party affiliation. Eight percent identified as Republicans. Many Democrats hoped they would gain new voters after a massive influx of Puerto Ricans came to Florida after Maria. But they have since said that Puerto Ricans were not as reliable a Democratic as they expected. Thursday’s poll found that despite most of those surveyed identifying as Democrats, 85% of Puerto Ricans support candidates for reasons other than party affiliation.

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