Politics
Harris, Trump Campaigns Pushing to Secure Black Male Voters in Presidential Election
Black men are emerging as a potentially key voting bloc in this year’s presidential race.
Pew Research projects more than 34.4 million Black Americans will be eligible to vote this November. That’s up 7% compared to 2020, and with Black voters accounting for 14% of all eligible voters in the U.S., the Black male vote could be a key bloc in determining the outcome of this year’s presidential election.
Both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are making a push in their presidential campaigns to appeal to Black men ahead of November’s election.
Some of the key issues driving Black male voters include race, gun violence and the economy, said Alvin Tillery, founder and treasurer of the Alliance for Black Equality, a Super PAC aimed at mobilizing younger Black voters that are against voting for Trump.
“Eight in 10 Black men are going to go to the polls and vote for Kamala Harris, but the comparator is Barack Obama, who would have gotten 9.5 out of 10, right?” Tillery said. “So among that sort of group, misogyny, not wanting to have a woman president, it is part of the cocktail that creates a problem for Kamala Harris, who right now is running behind where Joe Biden was in 2020 with Black voters, and she’s got to be up where Barack Obama was in 2008 and 2012 to win. … Can Trump win 10, 11, 12% of the Black male population? He absolutely can. And that spells a loss for Kamala Harris. And that’s why they should be alarmed on the Democratic side.”
Data shows that Black men have traditionally been reliable voters for Democrats, but some Black male voters say they feel disconnected from the party and are frustrated by its inaction.
“I would like to see more policy that is directed not just to Black men, but to Black people in general … and specifically to American freedom,” said 18th Ward Committeeman Devin Jones, who also serves as chairman for Southside Republicans. “It’s not so much that Donald Trump necessarily resonates. I think a lot of it is we have seen the destructive policies of Democrats in this city and in this state, we’ve seen what progressivism has to offer, and we’re not attracted to it. … What attracts me to him is what he did in the last four years to curtail the federal government and allow us to be able to fight at the state level for different policies.”
