Cuban-Americans support improving relations between US and Cuba, poll finds

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Cuban-Americans increasingly support US efforts to improve relations with Cuba since President Barack Obama announced in December his administration’s plans to restore relations with the Caribbean nation.

In a poll conducted by Bendixen & Amandi, 51 per cent of Cuban-Americans said they are in favour of better relations between the two countries, up from 44 per cent in December, the Associated Press reported. Forty per cent said they oppose improving US-Cuba relations.

The poll posed questions to a sample of 400 Cuban-Americans, who were mostly from Florida and New Jersey. There are some 2 million Cuban-Americans in the US.

“In the three months since President Obama's historic announcement, rather than increasing opposition, the study reveals there is now slight majority support amongst Cuban-Americans for normalization of relations with Cuba,” said Fernand Amandi, of Bendixen & Amandi, the AP reported.

On 17 December, President Obama announced that his administration would start working toward normalising relations with Cuba, 54 years after diplomatic relations were severed. The plan included relaxing travel restrictions and increasing commercial ties between to the two countries.

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