Republican candidate Donald Trump is not winning the black vote. In fact, Trump is losing the black vote 91 percent to one percent.
According to a new Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday, Hillary Clinton is beating Trump among blacks 91 to 1 while Trump wins whites and men 47 to 34. Clinton also leads among women 50 percent to 33 percent. In other words, the demographic splits are not terribly surprising.
But that one percent number is not good. It is not good at all. Even Mitt Romney got six percent.
Trump’s inability to cut into the black voter population is nothing to sneeze it, and could actually turn traditionally red states in the Deep South into swing states, despite Trump’s big primary wins in those states. Black people were largely not voting in those Republican primaries.
Trump is only up 45 percent to Clinton’s about 41 percent in Georgia according to the Real Clear Politics polling average there. The race is also close in Alabama and Clinton was within three points of him in Mississippi in April, though Trump is winning more solidly in Louisiana.
Trump picked Ben Carson to head his vice presidential search effort but Carson will probably not be the running mate. It is unclear what exactly Trump can do to get his numbers up with blacks.
Trump could continue to stress his commitment to providing block grants to states for Medicaid, and make it clear that even though he’s cutting Obamacare he’s still going to preserve the universal health care concept.
Nevertheless, the Culture Wars have done some damage to Trump, and identity politics in this election are strong.