A young Puerto Rican woman said that while Tony Hinchcliffe’s jokes at Donald Trump‘s Madison Square Garden rally bothered her, she’s still voting for the former president.
The woman was interviewed by CNN in Florida, where Trump was quickly declared the winner after polls closed.
She admitted to reporters that she was voting for Trump, in her first experience voting in a presidential election.
Stunned journalists attempted to challenge her decision based on Hinchcliffe’s comments, after he joked that Puerto Rico was a ‘floating island of garbage.’
‘I am Puerto Rican, so I was like, ‘wow, I don’t really like that,” she said, admitting it troubled her.
A young Puerto Rican woman said that while Tony Hinchcliffe’s jokes at Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally bothered her, she’s still voting for the former president
Journalists attempted to challenge her on Hinchcliffe’s comments, where he referred to Puerto Rico as a ‘floating island of garbage’
However, the unidentified woman said that ultimately, Trump’s policies were what motivated her to choose him over Kamala Harris.
But the reporters refused to accept her answer and demanded to know why she was fine with what Hinchcliffe said.
‘No, definitely not. I just think everyone has opinions, they don’t like Puerto Ricans, it hurts but at the end of the day, I’m okay with who I am and at the end of the day, I want to have a better life in the future,’ she said.
Her response to the joke seems to reflect a wider view in America.
Just 0.7 percent of the electorate have a more negative view of Trump following the bad-taste Madison Square Garden joke.
The lack of impact on voters was revealed in an exhaustive final poll before Election Day by DailyMail.com and J.L. Partners, for which 1,003 people were surveyed.
The poll found that the events at Madison Square Garden were the second most noticed news story of the week, behind Israel’s attack on Iran.
James Johnson, co-founder of J.L. Partners, told DailyMail.com: ‘Despite the news coverage of the comments at the Madison Square Garden rally, voters are responding with a shrug.
‘Most people are talking about other broader issues related to Trump and Harris, whether it’s attacks they’ve heard in ads, whether it’s the economy, whether it’s the bigger issues.
Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump departs following a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York, USA, 27 October 2024
‘What this says to me is that this moment has not changed the race. This is not definitively playing the role of an October surprise, and it’s not shifting overall views of Donald Trump or his campaign.’
He added: ‘That said, our poll can’t pick up what impact this might have on specifically Puerto Ricans in, for example, Philadelphia, but certainly, on a macro level, this is no game changer.’
There are around 500,000 Puerto Ricans living in Pennsylvania, the state that could ultimately decide who takes the keys to the White House.
The winner between Trump and Harris could be decided by just a few thousand Keystone State residents.
Since Sunday, Harris and her Democratic allies have latched onto the comments.
Trump meanwhile used a campaign rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, to endorse Puerto Rican Republican politician Zoraida Buxo.
On Tuesday night, Trump said he had ‘never heard’ of Hinchcliffe, the comedian who made the offensive comments at the beginning of his rally.
He told Fox News’ Sean Hannity: ‘I have no idea who he is. Somebody said there was a comedian that joked about Puerto Rico, or something, and I have no idea who it was. I never saw him, never heard of him, and don’t want to hear of him.
Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe speaks during a campaign rally for former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden in New York on October 27, 2024
‘I have no idea. They put a comedian in, which everybody does…you don’t vet them and go crazy.
‘What they’ve done is taken somebody that has nothing to do with the party, nothing to do with us, said something, and they’re trying to make a big deal. But I don’t know who it is, I don’t even know who put him in. And I can’t imagine it’s a big deal.
‘I’ve done more for Puerto Rico than any other president that’s ever been president.’
