A pair of recent polls show that 34 percent of black likely voters approve of President Donald Trump’s presidency, a stunning development that could have a massive impact on his re-election campaign in 2020.
A Rasmussen poll released Friday showed black likely voter approval of Trump at 34 percent. An Emerson Poll showed 34.5 percent approval by the same demographic.
“Boom,” wrote black author and Trump supporter Deneen Borelli on Twitter, calling the results “Democrats worst nightmare.”
The Trump campaign celebrated the news.
“It might shock Democrats that support for President Trump is rising with Black Americans but it shouldn’t,” Trump campaign Principal Deputy Communications Director Erin Perrine said to Breitbart News. “Blacks are more prosperous than ever because of President Trump with record-low unemployment and rising paychecks.”
The polling bump only bolstered the Trump campaign’s decision to launch a “Black Voices for Trump” political coalition in November.
“We’re going to campaign for every last African American vote in 2020,” Trump said in a speech, launching the group with black supporters in Atlanta, Georgia.
Perrine said the news would energize the coalition going into the president’s re-election effort for 2020.
“The Black Voices for Trump coalition will help get the facts and truth out there about the strength of America for Blacks under President Trump,” she said.
Rasmussen defended their numbers, noting their polling of likely voters was much more expensive but more reflective of election day results.
“All American Adults don’t vote,” they wrote on Twitter. “A portion of Registered Voters also don’t frequent national elections. That’s why we invest the extra $$ to ask political questions to only Likely Voters.”
Assistant professor at Emerson College Spencer Kimball also defended their polling results to the Epoch Times.
“This could be attributed to variance within the subsets … and be an anomaly, or it could be the start of a trend,” Kimball said, noting Trump was experiencing “slightly higher” approval ratings with minority voters. “He might do better with this vote than he did in 2016.”
The Emerson poll was conducted between November 17-20, featuring 1,092 registered voters. The margin of error for black voters is at 8.3 percent.
Other polling shows a lower number among registered voters.
A November Morning Consult/Politico poll reported only 18 percent of black registered voters approved of President Trump’s performance.