A survey performed in August 2016 by One Hour Translation, the world’s largest online translation agency, indicated that 48% think the next U.S. president should speak a second language.
The survey was performed together with Google Consumer Survey among 1,000 participants across the U.S. When asked which language the next U.S. president should speak, Spanish topped the list with 27% of the respondents; Chinese was a distant second with 6.5%, followed by Russian (4.3%), French (3.8%), Arabic (3.7%) and German (2.7%).
When broken down by age, One Hour Translation revealed that 67% of the youngest voters (ages 18-24) believed the president should be able to speak a second language, while 41% of the respondents in this age bracket thought the president should speak Spanish.
The survey also found a divergence of opinion in different states. In New York, a majority 52%, thought the next president should speak another language, with Spanish topping the list with 18.5%. In California, 45% believe that the next president should know Spanish and only 37% of the respondents felt that English was sufficient. In Arizona, 52% of the respondents thought English was enough, while 23% of the Arizonians believe that the next president should know Spanish, compared to 13% who favoured Chinese.
Neither one of the two major party candidates, Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump, speaks a language other than English.
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Chris Graham
