Sometimes the plans of mice, men and lefties can go in unpredictable directions. Socialism believes that people can be controlled. But people can go their own way.

When Hurricane Maria left Puerto Rico devastated in 2017, almost 400,000 of the island’s residents moved to the mainland. Many of them landed in Florida, where Gov. Rick Scott’s ® administration set up welcome centers in airports in Orlando, Tampa and Miami.

Plenty of political observers thought the Puerto Rican diaspora would be a political boon to Democrats. Unlike Cuban Americans, Puerto Ricans tend to vote pretty heavily for Democratic candidates.

But there’s a sign that Puerto Ricans might have rewarded Scott’s warm welcome. Scott took 42 percent of the vote in Osceola County, a Democratic bastion south of Orlando where President Trump took just 36 percent of the vote two years ago.

More Puerto Ricans moved to Osceola County, about 22,000, than to any other county in the country, except neighboring Orange County. Miami-Dade County was the third-most common destination for Puerto Ricans. Scott outperformed Trump in all three counties — and those votes alone gave him the margin he needed to beat Sen. Bill Nelson (D).

That’s guesswork and it’s not the only possible explanation. But the polls have been mixed.

Puerto Ricans in Florida trended Dem, but gave Scott positive ratings.

Gov. Rick Scott is better-known and better-liked than Sen. Bill Nelson among Puerto Ricans in Florida, according to a new poll that spells trouble for the incumbent as this Democratic-leaning group leans toward the Republican challenger ahead of the November election.

About 75 percent have a good opinion of Scott, while just 18 percent do not, according to the poll of 1,000 Puerto Ricans in the state commissioned by Florida International University.

Only 7 percent didn’t know enough about Scott to hazard an opinion of him — a sign the governor’s seven trips to Puerto Rico and his aggressive campaigning welcoming evacuees from the island after Hurricane Maria have paid dividends.

Nelson’s numbers: 62 percent favor him, 26 percent don’t and 13 percent don’t know enough to voice an opinion, the poll shows.

Calculated another way, Scott’s net approval rating is 57 percent and Nelson’s is 36 percent among Puerto Ricans. So the Republican is running ahead of the Democrat by about 21 percentage points.

The numbers are even more striking because 57 percent of the poll’s respondents say they’re registered as Democrats; only 12 percent are Republicans.

And George Soros may have gotten another reminder that people are more complicated than he thinks.