In previous analyses, we have already demonstrated the importance of Latino communities in the United States for the country’s political dynamics. In US elections, the Latino community represents the largest ethnic minority – surpassing 65 million people after having increased by almost 1.2 million residents since 2022 – and its political influence is increasingly evident. However, the diversity within Latino communities goes beyond questions of national or economic origin, encompassing an important linguistic aspect that tends to shape identity and influence political behavior.

The linguistic phenomenon “Spanglish,” a mixture of Spanish and English, is not only a form of communication, but also an expression of cultural identity and resistance. Studying this linguistic phenomenon can contribute to understanding the influence of language on identity, perception of politics, and ultimately, on the electoral preferences of Latino individuals in the United States. Furthermore, it is important to analyze the influence of the use of the Spanish language in the ongoing political campaigns for the November elections on the Latino vote in the United States.

The influence of the mother tongue for Latino communities – be it English, Spanish, or a mixture of the two – plays a formative role and, unsurprisingly, this factor has already been noticed by political strategists, modifying the way they communicate and their approaches in order to reach the diverse Latino communities in the United States. The ability to communicate in “Spanglish” or to address important issues in both languages ​​can be a determining factor in politically including communities that would otherwise be marginalized by a factor as determining as language.

In this analysis, we seek to explore the influence of language on electoral behavior and link the cultural and identity-based to the political and electoral. As the country becomes increasingly multicultural, the role of Spanglish and native language in shaping Latino voting decisions offers an opportunity to further highlight the importance of Latino communities and deepen the country's political conversation.

SPANGLISH AND THE LATIN VOTE

Communicating in Spanish is already widely considered important for securing votes from Latino communities, which represent around 15% of voters at the federal level, especially in the Swing States / Purple States. However, the use of Spanglish is growing, especially for social media campaigns that target younger voters who have more contact with English than previous generations.

A great example of the use of Spanglish for political campaigns and its purpose is the 15-second video entitled “For Us”, which says: “Mira, cada programa de Joe Biden is for us. Por eso, our bussinesses are growing the fastest in the country. The Student Loan debt está bajando. Por qué? Porque Joe Biden doesn’t fight for los ricos. He fights for us” –– underlined, words and phrases in Spanish. (“Look, every Joe Biden program is for us. That’s why our businesses are growing faster all over the country. Student debt is going down. Why? Because Joe Biden doesn’t fight for the rich. He fights for us”, own translation)

The intervention addresses student debt, which is generally a topic very related to young people, in a dynamic, fast way and with students and workers with great diversity and representation.

In another video from his campaign, he once again brings candidate Joe Biden closer to the people and the working class and distances his opponent, placing him as a friend of the elites. Using Spanglish again, he points out that the president lowered the price of insulin by 90% “for our abuelos” (“for our grandparents”).

Donald Trump’s approach, however, is different. Despite having already produced campaigns in Spanish, such as the video Reconstruyendo (Rebuilding) that denounces that Puerto Rico was “abandoned” by Joe Biden, Trump’s general position is that there is no need to adapt the language and approach to Latino voters, since they are also American and “We speak English here, not Spanish”. This position is even more explicit with the change of the name of the candidate’s campaign for the Latino population, which was changed from “Latinos for Trump” to “Latino Americans for Trump.” The rhetoric is that “African-Americans, Latino-Americans, Asian-Americans, European-Americans, wherever they come from, we are all Americans.”

THE USE OF SPANISH IN ELECTIONS

As mentioned above, communicating in Spanish is essential to attracting Latino voters, who can influence critical races in decisive states, especially considering that more than 15 million American households speak Spanish and at least three million of those households have “limited English speaking,” according to the CensusBureau’s AmericanCommunity Survey. And according to the Pew Research Center, the share of Latinos who speak only Spanish at home has decreased in the last decade.

According to an article in the newspaper ElPaís, “[...] the use of Spanish in the Senate has skyrocketed in the last six years. If in 2018 there were 13 senators who used it in their digital communications with citizens, in 2024 there will be 47 out of a total of 100. All this, despite only six senators being of Hispanic descent.” The report “Spanish in US Politics”, produced by the think tank The Hispanic Council, states that in the Senate, 77% of Democrats (37) use Spanish in their digital communications, compared to 16% of Republicans (8). According to the report, the senators who stand out most for their use of Spanish are Bob Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey; Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah; and Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington. In the House, the number of Democrats who use Spanish has increased from 50 to 92 in six years and now represent 43% of Democratic representatives. Among Republicans, the number increased from 10 to 21. The report states that the representatives who stand out most for using Spanish in their digital communications are Jesús ‘Chuy’ García, a Democrat representing Illinois; Nanette Barragán, a Democrat from California; and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York.

The Biden campaign has spent millions on ads and staffing to reach Latino voters in this campaign, according to spokeswoman Fabiola Rodriguez. The Democratic National Committee also says it has made a “six-figure” investment in digital, print and radio ads targeting Latinos, while also paying for more than 30 Spanish-language billboards in key battleground states. “The Trump campaign also launched Spanish-language ads in 2020, but the current campaign is trying to reach Latino voters more organically and through surrogates like Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida),” says Danielle Alvarez, a Trump campaign spokeswoman, adding that Trump has given high-profile interviews to Spanish-language television stations. “I believe when people say we should use more Spanish, I think they’re just saying we need more ads that speak culturally to the audience, that understand that the audience wants to feel included,” says Carlos Odio, co-founder and senior vice president of research at Equis Labs, a social welfare organization that seeks to increase Latino civic participation.

Below, we list some reasons why Spanish is being used in political campaigns in the United States, especially in this year’s presidential election:

• Accessibility and Inclusion:

Accessibility to information is a fundamental pillar of democracy. For many Hispanic voters, especially those whose native language/first language is Spanish, receiving electoral information in their native language is essential to ensuring that they can fully participate in the democratic process. Campaigns that use Spanish in their communications promote inclusivity and ensure that their messages reach a wider and more diverse audience.

• Clarity in Communication:

Using Spanish in political propaganda helps ensure that messages are understood clearly and more accurately, minimizing the risk of misunderstandings. This is especially important when discussing complex policies or technical details, since incorrect translations or inadequate communication can lead to confusion and misinformation, or even the spread of fake news, as already analyzed by the LatinoObservatory.

• Cultural and Emotional Connection:

Language is a powerful cultural connector. By using Spanish, candidates and political parties establish a deeper and more emotional connection with Hispanic voters. This strategy not only shows respect for voters’ culture and identity, but also creates a sense of belonging and representation. This emotional connection can be a deciding factor when it comes to voting.

• Increased Voter Turnout:

Campaigns that use Spanish tend to mobilize a larger number of Hispanic voters, encouraging them to turn out. When voters feel represented and understood, they are more likely to engage in the electoral process. Studies show that Spanish-language campaigns can significantly increase turnout among Hispanic voters, a crucial demographic that often decides the outcome of elections in key states. Additionally, the campaign arm of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, CHC BOLD PAC, recently launched what it calls “Our Lucha War Room,” a campaign to respond to misinformation on the campaign trail, particularly those of conservative Republicans. Alex Mahadevan, director of MediaWise at the Poynter Institute, said the amount of misinformation targeting Spanish-speaking voters so far is about on par with the 2020 presidential election, but he worries about AI being used to manipulate or create fake videos and audio this time around, as previously analyzed by the Latino Observatory. “It’s not necessarily that there’s more misinformation targeting Spanish speakers than English speakers, but rather that the social media platforms that are most popular with Latinos are less likely to successfully eliminate Spanish-language misinformation,” Mahadevan said — given that Latinos use WhatsApp and YouTube in higher numbers, platforms where experts say misinformation in Spanish is less likely to be intercepted by moderators. Danielle Alvarez, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, said the Democrats’ efforts show they have a low opinion of Hispanics. “Their ‘misinformation’ campaign proves they don’t believe we are capable of discerning fact from fiction — it’s disgusting and condescending,” Alvarez said in an email to Axios Latino.

LATIN ELECTORATE AND POLITICAL COMMUNICATION TACTICS

However, when the goal is to reach Latino voters, is there a criterion for deciding whether to create a political ad in Spanish or in Spanglish? Or, in other words, are there advantages to using one over the other?

It is possible to argue that political ads in Spanish are aimed at Latino migrant communities that do not speak English. In this situation, the use of Spanglish would not be as useful. Furthermore, approximately 1 in 4 Latinos say they consume news sources in Spanish. Therefore, a campaign in Spanish would provide a more fluid experience in the political opinion-forming process.

On the other hand, the use of Spanglish is not as useful for Latinos who do not speak English, since it uses words and constructions that originate from the language. Therefore, its use in political campaigns is not focused on a process of linguistic accessibility for Latino communities, but rather on a process of rapprochement and creation of belonging. A linguistic mix that arises from a cultural assimilation characteristic of migrant communities.

The phenomenon that allows Spanglish to be used for this function of political rapprochement is the same that creates it. The parents and grandparents of second-generation Latinos speak to them in Spanish, but they respond in English. Everyone involved in these dialogues is fluent in both languages, but they vary in relation to which one they treat as their “mother tongue”. The use of words such as “abuelo” and “mira”, which appeared in the initial examples, are strategically chosen to be in Spanish, in order to generate a feeling of familiarity in the Latino voter with the content created, since it seems, to the target demographic, to be a dialogue between them and their family. The objective, therefore, is to transfer this feeling of familiarity from the voter to the candidate in the campaign.

REPRESENTATION AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY

For many young Latinos who grew up in bilingual homes in the United States, the mix of languages ​​is something akin to a mother tongue. And the reality is that the US political system has a vocabulary that can sometimes be difficult to translate into Spanish without sounding strange or forced. Spanglish can be useful in making it much easier to explain the complex world of American politics, making it easier for new generations to explain to their parents or grandparents terms that, without Spanglish, would remain incomprehensible.

Given the reality of cultural and linguistic diversity in the US, the use of Spanish and Spanglish in electoral campaigns becomes not only relevant, but also strategic, proving to be a matter of accessibility, inclusion and effectiveness in campaigns. While Spanglish proves to be a tool that facilitates communication, the use of Spanish in political ads and campaigns is not only a matter of linguistic preference, but also of representing and respecting a significant portion of the American population, promoting an inclusive and representative democracy.

Rep. Linda T. Sánchez (D-Calif.) says that as for those who might complain that Spanglish isn’t a real language, Sanchez said the use of the language isn’t for them to understand: “I don’t need to justify the use of Spanish to people who don’t speak Spanish,” she said. “As a student of Spanish literature, the first thing I learned was: If a population speaks a certain language, it’s a legitimate and useful language.”. As the Hispanic population continues to grow, the role of Spanish and Spanglish in elections is expected to become even more pronounced, solidifying its importance as a central element in American political campaigns. Campaigns that recognize and respond to this need are better positioned to succeed in an increasingly diverse electoral environment.