Democratic strategist David Axelrod warned that comedian Tony Hinchcliffe's joke about Puerto Rico at a rally for former President Donald Trump in New York could prove costly for the Republican candidate.

During a recent rally for former President Donald Trump, one of the featured speakers made a joke in which he called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” The remark did not go over well with Latino voters in a key swing state, new polling reveals. Photo from Donald J. Trump, Facebook

After the president appeared to refer to Trump supporters as “garbage,” he and the White House quickly said he had misspoken and was referring to the comedian’s remarks.

Charles A. Rodríguez, former president of Puerto Rico’s Senate and former chair of the territory’s Democratic Party, said he hopes Puerto Ricans in the mainland will “use their vote to punish Donald Trump, to punish the hate speech we’re hearing so much from the Republican Party. The only way you can punish people in a democracy is by the vote.”

Denise Murphy said she probably would have voted for Donald Trump–until the recent Trump rally in New York City where a comedian likened Puerto Rico to a “floating island of garbage.” Murphy, who is

The island of Puerto Rico does not vote in the US presidential elections which means that its three million residents do not have any say in who will be the country's next president even though they are American citizens.