The Republican National Committee (RNC) launched a new issue-based TV ad targeted at Latinos Wednesday, avoiding mention of any specific candidates, including GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.
{mosads}The spot is the RNC’s first Spanish-language national ad of the 2016 campaign. An English-language version was also released.
The RNC will spend $250,000 to air the ad on Spanish-language networks Univision and Telemundo, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The ad focuses on economic and social issues important to conservatives, such as lower taxes, school choice, religious freedom and national security, and promises that Republicans can reverse the course of the last eight years under President Obama.
“While Democrats have spent years taking Hispanic voters for granted, we are offering a new direction that gives a voice to all Americans,” RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement.
Democrats have a commanding lead with Hispanics coming up to Nov. 8, but Republicans have traditionally appealed to Hispanic family values to gain a foothold with the voting bloc.
Since the census started tracking Hispanic origin in 1980, Democrats have won over a majority of Latino voters in every election. But President George W. Bush gave Republicans hope that they could split the demographic along ideological lines by taking 44 percent of the Latino vote in 2004.
Republicans have struggled to reach that level of support since then, and Trump’s unpopularity with Latinos could make the 2016 election results the worst ever for the GOP’s Hispanic outreach efforts.
Trump has released no Spanish-language ads, and his harsh rhetoric on immigrants has alienated many Latinos.