Nearly 55 years have passed since the U.S. imposed a trade embargo on Cuba, and rarely since then have any U.S. politicians questioned the status quo.

But as a new generation of Cuban-Americans could hold sway in Florida elections, some Democrats in the state are questions that embargo, which traditionally has been strongly supported across the political spectrum, according to The Associated Press.

Charlie Crist, a Democratic candidate for governor in Florida, has called for the end of the trade embargo with Cuba.

"If you really care about the people on the island, we need to get rid of the embargo an let freedom ring," Crist said last month in the Little Havana neighborhood in Miami, AP reported.

Not only is this a change in tone for some politicians but also for Crist himself. Crist was formerly the Republican governor of Florida and once said that he would go to Cuba only "when it's free." But Crist is now a Democrat and had made plans to travel to Cuba.

But Crist recently canceled the trip and has been dubbed a "waffle" by Republican opponent, Gov. Rick Scott, the Miami Herald reported.

"I'm going to stand with Cuban-Americans that believe in freedom, believe in democracy, believe in freedom of speech and oppose the oppression of Cuba," Scott said, according to AP.

Cuban-American voters don't stand with the Republican Party as much as they did a generation ago, when those who had left the island supported the republican hard-line politics against Cuba.

AP reported that 44 percent of Cuban registered voters in the U.S. now identify with the Democratic Party, compared with 22 percent a decade ago. Less than half of Cuban voters are Republicans, compared with 64 percent in that same time.

More than one-third of the Cubans in Miami came to the U.S. after 1995 and many of them support lifting the trade embargo, Guillermo Grenier, a researcher for the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University told AP.

"The politics are way behind public opinion on this one," Steve Schale, a Democratic consultant in Florida, told AP.