Tipsheet

Bad News for Democrats Who Insist on Using the Term 'Latinx'

A new poll among Latinos found that, yet again, an overwhelming majority of the community rejects the "Latinx" label Democrats, progressives, and corporate America have been pushing in recent years.

The label stems from trying to introduce a gender-neutral option for a language that is grounded in gendered words, but it is also unpronounceable when trying to say "Latinx" in Spanish.

The poll's findings, first reported by Politico, found only two percent of Hispanic voters would use "Latinx" to describe their heritage. Latino or Latina came in at 21 percent, with a whopping 68 percent saying they use Hispanic. "Something else" beat "Latinx" at 8 percent.

Most damning, the poll found 40 percent overall found "Latinx" offensive on some level and 30 percent said they were less likely to support a politician or political organization if they used the new term. Overall, 57 percent said the word does not bother them.

The poll's results have caused some concern among Democrats as Republicans continue to make gains among Latino voters in key states such as Florida and Texas.

"The numbers suggest that using Latinx is a violation of the political Hippocratic Oath, which is to first do no electoral harm,” Fernand Amandi, whose firm advised Barack Obama’s successful Hispanic outreach, told Politico. "Why are we using a word that is preferred by only 2 percent, but offends as many as 40 percent of those voters we want to win?"

Amandi added the unpopularity of "Latinx" is in addition to Republicans having "weaponized culture war issues at the margins with Hispanic voters."

The poll, conducted by Bendixen & Amandi International, is on par with what other organizations have found. Pew Research's poll in 2020 discovered only 3 percent of Hispanics use the term "Latinx," while a Gallup poll this year had the number at 4 percent.