Puerto Rico has ALWAYS wanted statehood.
Taxation WITH representation.
You are wrong about that
In Puerto Rico, the local legislature has conducted
four nonbinding status plebiscites. In 1967, Puerto Ricans, who were already U.S. citizens, voted to keep their territorial autonomy (60 percent), rejecting the statehood (39 percent) and independence (less than 1 percent) options.
In a second plebiscite held in 1993, Puerto Ricans again affirmed the status quo (49 percent) over statehood (46 percent) and independence (4 percent).
In a third plebiscite held in 1998, the Popular Democratic Party organized a boycott of the plebiscite. With the support of the Puerto Rican Supreme Court, the commonwealth party was able to amend the ballot to add
a “none of the above” option. As a result, 50 percent of voters chose “none of the above” in protest. Only 47 percent of Puerto Ricans voted for statehood and 2.5 percent for independence.
In 2012, the Puerto Rican legislature conducted the fourth plebiscite. It was divided into two questions, which some people argue intentionally diluted support for territorial autonomy.
The first question asked whether Puerto Rico should maintain its commonwealth or territorial status. A majority of Puerto Ricans (54 percent) voted no.
The second question gave Puerto Ricans a choice among several status options, including statehood, a sovereign free associated republic, and independence, but excluded the status quo. This exclusion prompted upwards of 500,000 voters to simply skip this question on the ballot as a form of protest. The majority (61 percent) of Puerto Ricans who voted on the second question picked statehood. However, if you include the voters who skipped the question, the percentage of those who chose this option drops to only 45 percent.
