LATINOS REJECT ‘LATINX’

Hurts Dems: poll

The increased usage of the words “Latinx” by Democrats may actually hinder their party’s efforts to win over voters of Latin American origin, a new poll finds.

Just 2 percent of registered voters of Hispanic, Latina or Latino origin who were questioned in the nationwide poll identified as “Latinx” — while 40 percent of the same 800 interviewees said they were offended in some way by the gender-neutral word.

“The numbers suggest that using Latinx is a violation of the political Hippocratic Oath, which is to first do no electoral harm,” Fernand Amandi, principal with Democratic firm Bendixen & Amandi International, which conducted the poll, 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?” he asked.

The poll also found that 30 percent of voters were “less likely to support” a politician or political organization that uses “Latinx” to talk about the nation’s Latin American community.

Proponents of the term argue, in part, that Spanish words shouldn’t end with an “O” — the vowel typically used with masculine nouns — when describing a mixedgender group.

Critics counter that “Latinx” is confusing to the Latin American community because Spanish words don’t end in the letter X.

Responding to the poll, Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) noted, “Hispanic, Latin American are gender-neutral.

“So we have already gender-neutral options to describe the Latino community. Adding an ‘X’ and creating a new word comes off as performative,” Gallego said.

The lawmaker said his office is barred from using “Latinx” in official writing.

“When Latino politicos use the term, it is largely to appease white rich progressives who think that is the term we use. It is a vicious circle of confirmation bias,” he said.

The term first emerged in the US more than a decade ago, and has gained prominence over the past few years, especially among progressive academics, politicians, corporations and news outlets.

The ramped-up use led to “Latinx” being added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary in 2018.

A 2019 Pew Research poll similarly found that the word was unpopular among Hispanic adults in America.

According to the Pew poll, 76 percent of Hispanic or Latino adults had never heard of it. Twenty-three percent of those polled had heard of “Latinx,” but only 3 percent of them used the word.