Why 2024 presidential campaign is the most Latino-oriented in US history

Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump have gone out of their way to woo the 43-million-strong Spanish-speaking community in the US, with the Republican and Democratic contenders redefining their campaign strategies to secure the Latino vote for the November 5 presidential elections.

The 2024 presidential campaigns have made unprecedented use of Spanish-language messaging, especially on social media, to target more than 36 million potential Hispanic voters.

This is especially significant in a country where, according to a report by the Center for Social Media and Politics published in April, at least 47 percent of Latino voters rely largely on platforms like YouTube, TikTok, WhatsApp, and Facebook for news.

The latest polls show that Harris and Trump are locked in a neck-and-neck contest with barely a week to go for what is being billed as one of the most contentious presidential elections in the US.

The preference for social media and audiovisual channels for accessing information has led the two major parties to reach out to the Hispanic audience with numerous digital posts in Spanish.

One example is Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's post on X, reaching out to Puerto Rican voters to support Juan Dalmau as governor from her party, along with other political figures.

In addition to the presidential race, this election also includes contests for several governors, 435 members of the House of Representatives, and 33 senators.

The Republican Party released a salsa song called “Kamala qué mala eres” (Kamala, how evil you are), targeting the Democratic nominee, and distributed it through TikTok and other platforms.

Additionally, Trump appeared on October 16 on Univision, a television channel with a massive Spanish-speaking audience in the US, to answer questions from Latino voters.

This appearance was broadcast live and then shared in the following days on digital platforms such as X and YouTube.

Meanwhile, Democrats launched a WhatsApp channel in August aimed at Latino voters to mobilise their base. Two months later, Harris’s campaign responded to the Republicans' video with another Spanish-language video where she seeks votes to a Latin beat.

Messages targeting Latina women

However, the Latino community receiving these messages is not monolithic. Differences between men and women, as well as state-specific factors, have shaped the content and dissemination channels used by both parties over recent months.

A notable element of this Spanish-language campaign is the role of women. For both parties, abortion is a key issue, but the way they approach female voters differs between languages.

As Juan Luis Manfredi, a professor of Journalism and International Studies at the University of Castilla-La Mancha, tells TRT Español, “In states like Arizona and Nevada, Democrats are more supportive of legislation upholding women’s rights.”

Expressed in Spanish, this message emphasises that women are powerful and have agency, he says. “This message is different in English-language campaigns, where reproductive health is almost taken for granted among Democratic women.”

Manfredi, who knows the US well from his recent experience with the Prince of Asturias Chair at Georgetown University, identifies a second focus of the Spanish-language campaign. “The focus on borders, migration, and the diaspora, the idea that the US is a country built by the children of immigrant women, is a message that resonates with the Latino community.”

Many of these women have raised their children practically independently or with partners working 16-hour days.

Thus, these messages, reinforcing their strength and resilience, appear only in Spanish-language messages, not in English campaigns.

Regarding male voters, the campaigns of both parties are focused on candidate visits to key states.

“You have to reach out to the Hispanic public, talk to them, understand the vulnerability and corporate abuses faced by the Latino community… This is a message different from what the white American community hears,” adds Manfredi.

There are also differences in the messages directed at male Latino voters.

In fact, the Democrats’ Spanish-language campaign seeks to stem the loss of Latino support, which has fallen by nearly 12 points since Barack Obama’s presidency. At the latest count, only about 45 percent of Latino voters approved Harris.

However, both campaigns are similar in Spanish-language messages about working-class people, the economy, and small businesses, encouraging job creation and wealth-building.

Evolution of Spanish-language campaigns

Since Jackie Kennedy starred in the first Spanish-language ad in 1960, the use of Spanish in political campaigns has grown along with the number of Hispanic voters.

The significant growth of the Latino community has led to an increase from 28 senators using Spanish in campaign messages in 2022 (there are 100 senators in the country) to 47 in these 2024 elections, according to a report from the Hispanic Council.

This publication, which analysed the digital communication of more than 400 representatives and 100 senators through their official X profiles and websites, highlights a significant increase in Spanish usage in US politics this year.

The results of this political strategy will be seen after November 5, the election date.

According to Manfredi, the Latino community, as a “decisive sociographic group in these elections”, will continue to receive the most messages.

For the community, however, the biggest hope is that the campaign promises made over these months will become a reality regardless of the winner.