Politicians turn to Spanglish

Spanglish — a mix of English and Spanish — is surging in political ads and campaign outreach ahead of November's elections.

Why it matters: Communicating in Spanish is key to wooing Latino voters, who are nearly 15% of the national electorate.

• But, increasingly, so is using Spanglish, especially since many young Latinos — a rapidly growing demographic — are more likely to be English-dominant.

Zoom in: So far this year, the Biden campaign has released two ads in Spanglish, with plans for more.

• The campaign has spent millions on ads and deploying staff to reach Latino voters for this campaign, according to spokesperson Fabiola Rodriguez.
• The Democratic National Committee also says it's made a "six-figure" investment in digital, print and radio ads targeting Latinos and funded 30 Spanish-language billboards in key battleground states.

The Trump campaign released Spanish ads in 2020 but has yet to spend any cash on them this cycle.

• Instead, the campaign is reaching Latino voters organically and through surrogates such as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), says Danielle Alvarez, a Trump campaign spokesperson, adding that Trump has done major interviews with Spanish-language TV stations.

By the numbers: Roughly 63% of Latinos say they speak Spanglish — and the share of Latinos who speak Spanish at home has dropped over the past decade, according to the Pew Research Center.

What they're saying: "Second-generation Latinos in the U.S., at home, while their parents and grandparents are speaking in Spanish, they're speaking in English back to them," says Rodriguez.

Cringe concern