Americans for Cuba

To be honest, I do not know much about the Cuba Business Bureau, and cannot vouch for it. Anyone out there that can? Please feel free to leave info in the comment section. The group is new to me as of today.

I do know that the Cuba Business Bureau conducted a survey, the results of which were released Monday, on American opinions of relations with Cuba. According to the poll, a majority of Americans support:

1. establishing full diplomatic relations with Cuba (58%);
2. allowing all U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba (61%);
3. allowing U.S. companies to do business in Cuba (57%).

I’m only questioning the groups methods, not their results. Because first of all, the poll leaves out gray areas. The only options were the black and the white: do you support or oppose establishment of full relations with Cuba? There’s a lot of nuance that is left out in those two polar opposites, even if the poll’s results show that if we included nuanced answers we would likely sway closer to the “open” relations side than the “closed.”

The poll also interviewed, apparently, only 401 individuals. In a nation of 309 million or so, the sample size seems rather unrepresentative.

Do not get me wrong: the ultimate conclusion is good, and other polls and surveys show that it’s probably about right. And since so many news outlets picked up this source, I gave it a second look–it’s an interesting group. The Cuba Business Bureau (CBB) was founded by former executives of CNN Eason Jordan and Larry Register, two men who led impressive careers that were ultimately tarnished by a few poor decisions. CBB is a consulting and business information service providing U.S. companies “with a better understanding of Cuba’s marketplace and existing and potential business opportunities there.” That feels a bit like a bias on the side of more open business opportunities with Cuba—not exactly a neutral view on the topic of the poll.

Despite the odd background here, the results are spot-on. Last year’s Gallup poll on similar issues showed numbers just like these:

• 60% of Americans favor re-establishing diplomatic relations with Cuba.
• 51% of Americans favor ending the trade embargo of Cuba.
• 64% of Americans favor ending restrictions on travel to Cuba.

Indeed, since 1999, a majority of Americans have consistently said that they favor re-establishing diplomatic relations with Cuba.

(Photo from CFR)