Jorge Mas Canosa's image among Dade County Cubans has improved, at the same time that his Cuban American National Foundation has declined in popularity, says a poll done for Spanish-language WSCV-Channel 51. However, the foundation remains the most effective of all exile organizations, the survey finds.
Eighty-three percent of the respondents said they had a favorable opinion of Mas. Nine percent expressed a negative opinion; 8 percent declined to answer.
The poll, conducted Sept. 27-30 by Dade-based National Opinion Research Services, targeted 400 Cuban-born residents of Dade County 18 years of age and older. Its margin of error is plus or minus 5 percentage points.
Particularly noteworthy is Mas' popularity among Cubans who favor dialogue with President Fidel Castro as the best way to bring democracy to Cuba. Seventy-eight percent of pro-dialogue respondents spoke favorably about Mas; 13 percent did not.
``His numbers are up in the clouds,'' said Sergio Bendixen, Channel 51's political analyst, who designed the poll.
Fifty-five percent of the respondents said the Cuban American National Foundation is the most effective Cuban group in the United States. Mas is the foundation's chairman.
Support for the foundation has eroded, however. In a similar poll done in April 1994, 64 percent of the respondents had said the foundation represented them best.
Unidad Cubana, an organization that encompasses several anti-Castro groups, was supported by 7 percent of the respondents. Support in 1994 was 1 percent.
Cambio Cubano, a pro-dialogue group headed by Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo, was backed by 6 percent of the respondents. In 1994, support came from only 2 percent.
``The percentages of support for these two organizations are modest, but they do represent tens of thousands of exiles,'' Bendixen said.
Leaders of these two organizations were less than enthusiastic about the published numbers. Juan Ruiz, president of Unidad Cubana, called the survey ``ridiculous. I don't see that it has any objectivity. Every organization has its own kind of popularity,'' he told The Herald.
Gutierrez Menoyo said the poll ``totally lacks credibility and honesty.''
The most significant conclusion to be drawn from this poll, Bendixen said, is that Cubans in the United States should realize they have ``an indisputable leader'' in Mas. His leadership should also be recognized by U.S. and world leaders, Bendixen added.
Nevertheless, ``it remains to be seen if Mas recognizes the opportunity that now rests in his hands and the historic responsibility it entails,'' the pollster said.
Mas said Wednesday that, although pleased by the poll's findings, organization members won't allow the numbers ``to go to our head. We'll continue to work with humility and the same responsibility and effectiveness'' as in the past.
Copyright © 1996 The Miami Herald