Gallup: 57% of US Latinos Say It Doesn’t Matter What Label Is Used to Describe Their Community

Aug 5, 2021
2:02 PM

The identity debate of the preferred term for the U.S. Latino community continues (when hasn’t it stopped?), as a new Gallup poll released Wednesday said that for 57% of U.S. Latinos, it does not matter what term is used to describe themselves.

“Most Hispanic adults (57%) say it does not matter to them which term is used, though nearly one in four (23%) prefer ‘Hispanic’ and 15% prefer ‘Latino.’ Few expressed a preference for ‘Latinx’ (4%),” Gallup noted.

As a follow-up to that initial question, Gallup did still ask what term would U.S. Latinos prefer if they had to choose one. According to the poll, 57% said “Hispanic,” 37% said “Latino” and 5% said “Latinx.”

These findings are consistent with an August 2020 Pew Research poll which said that while 23% of U.S. Latinos are aware of the term “Latinx,” only 3% use the term.

The latest Gallup poll reported that 58% of Black Americans do not have a preference between the terms “Black” and “African American.”