Most Americans want to end the Cuba embargo — and this GOP senator wants to make it happen

Nearly six in 10 Americans are ready for normalized diplomatic and trade relations in Cuba, per a new CBS/New York Times poll released Monday, while only 25 percent oppose the thaw. This news comes as President Obama visits Cuba this week, the first trip to the island by a sitting U.S. president in nearly nine decades.

Though self-identified Republicans were significantly divided on renewed diplomacy — 44 percent support it, but 42 percent oppose — the project finds serious support on Capitol Hill from Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.).

No fan of the Castro regime, Flake argues that open trade with Cuba is the best way to improve Cuban quality of life, and he is willing to call out fellow Republicans who lose faith in the free market where Cuba is concerned. "[I]t always bothered me that as a Republican we preach the gospel of contact and commerce and trade and travel," he recently told Reason, "yet with Cuba we turn around and say, 'No, it's not going to work there.'"

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Flake has joined President Obama on his trip to Cuba, and has introduced bipartisan legislation to roll back U.S.-Cuba travel restrictions.