Preston Paris, a young Black man from a family that votes for Democrats, will cast his ballot for Donald Trump as he takes part in his first presidential election on November 5.
Paris says a lot of people expect him to vote automatically for Kamala Harris, a fellow African American, and they treat him like he is crazy not to.
“But I put my faith in Trump. I prefer his foreign policy and I prefer what his plan is for the economy,” said Paris, a 19-year-old computer science student at Georgia State University.
Georgia is one of the battleground states that are expected to decide the razor-close election.
In 2020, Joe Biden beat Trump by just 11,779 votes in this state, where almost a third of the voting population is Black.
As a result, some recent polls have set off alarm bells in the Harris camp.
A survey in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper published this week said Harris had the support of 73.8 percent of Black voters in Georgia, compared to 7.6 percent for Trump.
But Harris’s number was far below the 88 percent level of support that Biden received in the 2020 election.
A New York Times/Siena College poll this month said Harris’s largest loss of support compared to Biden was among Black men.
The survey found that 70 percent of these men plan to vote for Harris, compared to 83 percent of Black women who plan to.
– A sought-after vote –
Responding to these polls, Harris announced a program to help Black men that would offer loans to start up businesses and complete vocational training.
The Harris campaign has also enlisted the star power of former president Barack Obama, the nation’s first Black president, who appeared with her Thursday at a rally near Atlanta, along with rock star Bruce Springsteen.
Republicans meanwhile are trying to capitalize on Black voters’ disappointment with the Democratic Party.
On a recent morning, dozens of people attended an event held by far-right activist Charlie Kirk and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, a former presidential hopeful, at a park in downtown Atlanta.
Some of those present said they do not want to back Trump, but they did listen to the Republicans stump in favor of him.
Others, like Paris, are avid Trump fans.
“Trump plans to lower taxes, no tax on tips, lower taxes for large companies, which can also benefit people like me who are trying to work for large companies, like I plan on potentially working for Google one day,” he told AFP.
Paris said that while Trump was in power “there wasn’t any new foreign conflict” and he adds, “I don’t want to get drafted anytime soon or ever.”
Near Paris stands a 23-year-old Black student named JP, who wears a red cap with the Trump mantra “Make America Great Again.”
This young man, who did not want to give his last name, said the economy was better under Trump, but more than anything he supports the former president because of his own Christian faith.
Many conservative Christians are grateful to Trump because he appointed three judges to the Supreme Court, which ended the national right to abortion in 2022.
“Donald Trump is the one who is more aligned with the Bible, with my beliefs,” said JP.
Jarrod Grant, a professor of political science at Clark Atlanta University, said Black people in America can no longer be expected to give unconditional support to a political party.
“One of the key things that we’re all asking is, ‘what is your Black agenda? What are you going to do for Black folk?'”
He added: “Black people, we have been helping everyone else, except for ourselves. And so everyone else gets something, but Black folks don’t.”
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