Poll: Decline in Black Voter Support Imperils Kamala Harris’s Bid for the Presidency

Attendees hold signs that read "Blacks For Trump" during the 'Black Voices for Trump' laun
Dustin Chambers/Bloomberg via Getty Images

A recent poll found Vice President Kamala Harris (D) is facing a significant gap pertaining to black voters.

When compared to the group’s support of President Joe Biden (D) in 2020, Harris is lagging behind, the New York Times/Siena College poll found, as the Times reported on Saturday.

The newspaper continued:

Nearly eight out of 10 Black voters nationwide said they would vote for Ms. Harris, the poll found, a marked increase from the 74 percent of Black voters who said they would support Mr. Biden before he dropped out of the race in July. But Mr. Biden won 90 percent of Black voters to capture the White House by narrow margins in 2020, and the drop-off for Ms. Harris, if it holds, is large enough to imperil her chances of winning key battleground states.

Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump (R), who is running against Harris for the White House in 2024, is apparently making gains with black voters, per the article.

The poll also found that voters increasingly believe the Democrat party has failed to deliver on its promises, while the Republican Party is more likely to keep its commitments.

The Times spoke with LaPage Drake of Cedar Hill, Texas, who owns a tree removal service. When speaking of the Democrat party, he said, “They sweep table scraps off the table like we’re a trained dog and say, ‘This is for you,’ and we clap like trained seals.”

Drake, who plans to support Trump, added, “Regardless of how people call him racist and stuff, he is for the country of America.”

Former President Barack Obama recently warned Harris’s supporters that not enough black voters were backing her, Breitbart News reported on Thursday. While speaking to supporters in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty, Obama stated:

Now, I also want to say that seems to be more pronounced with the brothers. So if you don’t mind, just for a second, I’m going to speak to y’all, and say that when you have a choice that is this clear, when on the one hand, you have somebody who grew up like you, knows you, went to college with you, understands the struggles and pain and joy that comes from those experiences.

A recent Washington Post poll found that 24 percent of black voters in Ohio lean towards Trump instead of Harris, according to Breitbart News.

It is also important to note that Democrats’ advantage with Latino voters appears to be on the decline as the November election swiftly approaches.

Per the Times, 589 black voters were interviewed between September 29 and October 6. The poll was conducted via telephone, and “the margin of sampling error among the likely Black electorate is plus or minus 5.6 points.”

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