Tim Kaine can speak Spanish. Most Hispanics don't care.

A self-described “third generation Texas Mexican,” Rocha said that Clinton’s decision to pass over Castro and Perez stung because, “I was looking for a VP choice that showed my son that one day he could be president — not that he needs to work on his Spanish.”

He added, “Remember, we are talking about Latino voters — not the general population, and the vast majority of Latino voters do not speak Spanish as a first language.”…

But nearly seven in 10 Latinos said that a candidate’s Spanish fluency won’t influence their vote, according to a poll conducted last year for the Spanish-language network Univision. Barely a quarter said it will.

An overwhelming majority of Latinos — 95 percent — believe it’s important for future generations to speak Spanish, but seven in 10 Latino adults don’t believe it’s necessary to speak the language to be considered Latino, according to a study released in February by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center.