Trump, Rubio battle for Hispanic GOP voters in Florida

(AP) — Florida voters are increasingly voicing a similar take on Republican front-runner Donald Trump: "Dice lo que piensa" — Spanish for "he speaks his mind."

Trump boasts that he can win the Hispanic vote in a general election and next week, he faces his first major test in the winner-take-all primary in Florida, a highly contentious swing state with a large and diverse population of Latino voters.

Trump's comments about building a southern border wall and his accusations that many Mexicans in the U.S. are "criminals, drug dealers, rapists" have outraged and alienated many American Hispanics.

Yet his tough stance on illegal immigration plays well among Florida's more conservative Latinos.

[...] the junior senator's membership in the Gang of Eight that pushed for immigration reform has gotten him into as much trouble with conservative Hispanics here and elsewhere in the country.

[...] in the southern part of the state, where Cuban-Americans dominate the ranks of GOP voters, Rubio led by 9 percentage points.

Hispanic GOP voters in Orlando and south Florida, both areas are major pockets of Hispanic voters, share in the anger at government that Trump has so skillfully roused as a political outsider.