New polling from the NAACP shows Black men might be shifting their attitudes about how they’re voting in next week’s presidential election. 

The Black male vote has turned into a crucial bloc this election, with both Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump making appeals to get their votes. Aside from the demographic voting either Republican or Democrat, there have been rumblings that Black men might show up at the polls in lower numbers this year. 

Gary and Denise Gardner caught wind of that rhetoric and took it upon themselves to do something. 

“It sounded suspect to me,” said Gary Gardner, co-founder of the “We Gotta Vote” billboard campaign. “I run into young black men every day here in Chicago. So we put together a comprehensive marketing campaign. I think the billboard campaign was a great one, because it not only reached about 350,000 men in total, but more importantly, it reached their families.” 

Gary Gardner and his wife, Denise, created the slogan based off the Spike Lee movie, “She’s Gotta Have It,” and she later added the phrase “We Can’t Go Back.” The two contributed $500,000 to launch the billboard campaign. 

The couple has experience in activating people’s right to vote and applying marketing techniques to increase voter engagement from working on campaigns for former Chicago Mayor Harold Washington, former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun and former President Barack Obama. 

They’ve strategically placed the billboards in swing states, including Nebraska, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Ohio, hoping to reach undecided voters. The three designs feature a different Black man because there is “no one image that encompasses young Black men,” said Gardner. 

Previously, Harris was receiving criticism in her efforts to address Black men, but she announced a plan earlier this month aimed at giving Black men more economic opportunities called the “Opportunity Agenda for Black Men.”  

“She's had three and a half years to do it. If that’s what she was going to do, then she would be doing it now,” said Devin Jones, Republican Committeeman of the18th ward and Chairman of the Southside Republicans. “And I don’t know how that jives with higher taxes. That is what the Democratic apparatus typically goes for. They are going for more programs, which means there’s going to be higher taxes. That doesn’t mesh with economic opportunity, because for every tax dollar we have to send to the government, that’s $1 that we cannot pour into a business. It just doesn’t. It really doesn’t make any sense.” 

Jones said Harris’ opportunity and economic plan aligns with the same destructive policies Democrats usually present. The Harris campaign has made note to criticize former president Donald Trump’s plan for economic growth. 

During the presidential debate, Harris stated, “When you look at his economic plan, it’s all about tax breaks for the richest people…his plan is to do what he has done before, which is to provide a tax cut for billionaires and big corporations, which will result in $5 trillion to America’s deficit.” 

While Trump has not come out with a specific policy for Black men, his campaign does claim low, middle, and high-income households  will fare better under the campaign proposals. 

“They don't have a specific policy that is targeting Black people, but I think to reign in government is always good for Black people,” said Jones. “As we have seen, the government tends to be discriminatory, unequitable or inequitable towards Black people.”

However, the Trump campaign continues to express themes of hate by reciting racist remarks at rallies. Trump held a rally at Madison Square Garden last Sunday, where comedian Tony Hinchcliffe made bigoted comments about Puerto Rico being a “floating island of garbage,” Jews clinging to money, Palestinians throwing rocks and Black people carving watermelons.

Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz came to Hinchcliffe’s defense on Twitter stating “It was a joke!” 

As the candidates continue to make their final pitches to the American people as Election Day gets closer, voters are tuning in.

Harris continues across the campaign trials and the Obamas have joined traveling to swing states. 

“She’s transcended because of her experience being in state government, in federal government, being a vice president,” said Gardner. “And she’s transcended race or gender. She doesn’t talk about her race or gender. She talks about being a president, because she’s been elevated to that position.”