Poll: Only 4 Percent of Hispanics Prefer Woke, Genderless Term ‘Latinx’

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Hispanics overwhelmingly reject the woke, genderless term “Latinx” to describe their ethnic group, a Wednesday poll revealed.

Only 4 percent of Hispanics polled chose “Latinx” (pronounced Latin-ex), 15 percent chose “Latino,” and 23 percent chose “Hispanic,” the Gallup poll detailed. Notably, a majority of 57 percent of participants said the term used does not matter.

In a followup question, respondents were asked which term they lean toward. Most preferred “Hispanic” (57 percent) while more than a third choose “Latino” (37 percent). Again in last place was “Latinx” with 5 percent of the vote. 

“Gallup’s historical polls illustrate the extent to which preferences can change over time, however, and future updates will tell if this new, lesser-used term is on the rise — and also if even newer labels have emerged to rival it,” according to the poll which surveyed 302 Hispanic adults, has a margin of error of ±7 percentage and a 95 percent confidence level. 

In 2020, the Los Angeles Times reported on a poll that was considered to be “the first major poll on the topic by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center,” and also ” found that roughly three out of four Latinos in the U.S. hadn’t even heard of the term” Latinx, Breitbart News reported.

The Times explained the origins of the term:

Latinx, which emerged online and in academia in the early 2000s, is the most recent attempt to rectify a perceived long-standing problem in Spanish-rooted words that appear in American English: the gendering of nouns that end in “o” (masculine) or “a” (feminine). Accepting “Latino” as the default term for a mixed-gender group of people reinforces patriarchy, Latinx proponents say, and excludes people who are transgender or gender-nonconforming.

Previously, academics experimented with the textual use of “Latin@” in an attempt to resolve the problem, which was pronounced as “Latino/Latina.” (Latinx is pronounced as “Latin-ex.”) Still others have advocated “Latine” as another gender-neutral alternative.

Pew also found that “some felt Latinx is an unnecessary ‘anglicism’ of the Spanish language, or ‘not representative of the larger Latino community.’”

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