Statewide NewsPoll: Only Three Percent of Hispanic Texans Prefer Term ‘Latinx’ Over ‘Hispanic’ or ‘Latino’

Former state Rep. Jason Villalba (R-Dallas), who now serves as the CEO of THPF, and political scientist Mark P. Jones discussed the results of the poll in a column for The Dallas Morning News.

They described the results of a poll conducted in March by the Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation that indicated only three percent of respondents preferred the term “Latinx.”

Villalba and Jones called it a “gender-neutral anglicized version of the Spanish word Latino.” They characterized it as being in vogue among “elites” such as those working in higher education, government, and journalism.

The foundation polled a sample of 687 people in Texas who have Latin American, Portuguese, or Spanish ancestry, according to the column.

“Hispanic” was the favorite term of 72 percent of the respondents while a quarter preferred the term “Latino.” Only three percent preferred “Latinx.”

Villalba and Jones also specified that of participants in the survey who mostly or only speak Spanish at home, 49 percent preferred “Hispanic,” 47 percent preferred “Latino.”

Neither the term “Hispanic” nor the term “Latino” was controversial among Hispanic Texans, with five percent or less disapproving either term, they explained.

However, Villalba and Jones stated that a third of those polled approved of the term “Latinx” while 39 percent disapproved and 28 were neutral. 

They highlighted that “levels of disapproval are high, even among groups that might be expected to be more positively disposed to the use of the term Latinx.”