With the presidential elections just 46 days away, Donald Trump may be trying his best to woo Spanish voters, which comprise 10 percent of national votes. However, one thing is crystal clear — the Republican nominee will strictly stick to English.
"This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish," he had said a year ago at a nationally televised debate. Those words still hold true till date.
Paying little attention to the changing demographics, Trump has not bother to incorporate any bit of Spanish in his speeches, leave alone him investing in Spanish-language television or radio ads.
Breaking a tradition which had been followed for ages, Trump even avoided translations of his website into Spanish, Politico reported. Mitt Romney, John McCain and George Bush all operated Spanish-language versions of their websites.
"He's not willing to give into anything that shows that he wants to cater to us," Juan Hernandez, a Hispanic Republican, who was also a former adviser to President George W. Bush, was quoted as saying.
"And he believes that he doesn't have to. He believes he can still squeeze out a few more white, over 50 [year-old] votes."
A total of $23 million was spent on Spanish-language ads in the 2012 presidential race by Obama, Romney and their backers, according to an ABC News report. Until now in 2016, Trump has spent zero.
Despite the rise in Latino population, Trump has refused to campaign in Spanish. He has remained unfettered and openly attacked illegal Mexicans immigrants calling them rapists and drug dealers, often demanding "build that wall."
A growing number of prominent Latino Republicans have vouched for Hillary Clinton or Gary Johnson, while many members from Trump's National Hispanic Advisory Council also resigned over his controversial anti-immigrant speeches.
Carlos Gutierrez, former Bush Commerce Secretary, who previously campaigned for Mitt Romney's Hispanic outreach, starred in a Spanish-language ad, this time for Clinton.
The Trump campaign did make an attempt which backfired. Officials handed out signs at the Republican convention in Cleveland saying "Hispanics Para Trump," which was an incorrect Spanish usage for the word "for" (para was used instead of por).
In the meantime, Clinton has been capitalizing on Trump's disadvantage. The Democratic nominee has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in Spanish-language ads in Nevada and Florida.
Clinton's running mate, Tim Kaine, too gained some brownie points after he spoke in Spanish at both his vice-presidential announcement and convention speeches.
Clinton's website prominently features "En español" which guides users to her Spanish-language site.
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