Top black Democrats across multiple swing states are warning Joe Biden the black vote is far from locked in, leaning into worries that the president is losing a core voter bloc.
In Nevada, black leaders worry about Biden’s descending trajectory, blaming lackluster voter enthusiasm on a communication gap about the Biden administration’s accomplishments.
Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV), the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, is adding his voice to the growing list of calls for the Biden campaign to switch up its strategy.
“I’m in a battleground state. I know what has and hasn’t been done,” Horsford told Politico. “I felt a level of disconnection earlier on the message, on the messengers, and on mobilization.”
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) had similar words for the Biden campaign.
“I think that the way that we communicate has changed in such a way that, if you don’t invest earlier, it’s going to be a problem,” she said. “I’m not saying that it’s the last minute, but we are in crunch time.”
The Trump campaign has capitalized on the momentum, telling the Washington Examiner, “President Trump’s outreach to minority voters is straightforward: he shows up, listens, and makes it clear that we’ll be better off with him as President, just like we were four years ago. The Biden campaign sees that President Trump is up to 23% in the polls with Black voters, a record high that we haven’t seen in decades. President Trump knows that Black voters prefer lower taxes, which he delivered in his first term, and like all Americans, oppose Biden’s hiking tax rates. Ultimately, President Trump’s economic policies offered more opportunities to build generational wealth for Black families.”
Traditionally, Democrats have counted on black voters as a core fixture of its base, winning more than 90% of the black vote in the 2020 election. Heading into the 2024 presidential election, Biden has seen a downward spiral in the polls. Losing even a minor percentage of black voters could be his downfall in battleground states like Pennsylvania.
The Biden campaign often cites black voters’ lack of awareness about his accomplishments as the cause for the president’s national decline in support.
Recent polls indicate deeper issues than a lack of knowledge.
Earlier this month, a survey showed black voters are dissatisfied with Biden’s economic performance, and dismayed by the rising cost of living and sticky inflation. One of the latest polls found Trump leading Biden in all seven swing states, 48% to 44%.
In March, multiple polls conducted by CBS, the Economist, the New York Times, and Yahoo show Trump polling double-digit support among black voters. A poll in early April showed that 30% of black men in seven swing states are more inclined to support Trump in November, up from 12% in 2020. The same poll suggested that 42% of black women are undecided in their 2024 election choice.
The Biden campaign has responded to polling data by ramping up efforts to lock in the black vote, launching a black voter outreach program earlier this week.
“Our campaign believes that black voters deserve to hear from Team Biden-Harris, and they deserve to have their vote earned, not assumed,” the campaign wrote as it unveiled the “Black Voters for Biden-Harris” national organizing program.
Last week, the president courted black voters with a speech on the 70th anniversary of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education desegregation ruling. Biden slammed Trump during his remarks at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., saying, “We have a whole group of people out there trying to rewrite history, trying to erase history.”
In April, the Biden administration backed off of a menthol ban following pushback, as the overwhelming majority of black smokers prefer menthol cigarettes.
Biden has also ramped up attacks on Trump during campaign appearances. In Philadelphia this week, he made the thinly veiled accusation that the former president is racist.
“What do you think would’ve happened had black Americans stormed the Capitol?” Biden asked a crowd of black voters. “I don’t think he would be talking about pardons. This is the same guy who wanted to tear-gas you as you peacefully protested George Floyd‘s murder.”
A campaign fact sheet for the event repeatedly denounced Trump as racist.
In a statement to the Washington Examiner, the Trump campaign pushed back on Biden’s claims.
“Joe Biden is an outright racist. He cannot hide from his friendship and admiration of notorious bigots like George Wallace and Robert Byrd. In 1977, he expressed concern that his children might grow up in a ‘racial jungle.’ His racism has become more evident in his senility,” said Janiyah Thomas, the Trump campaign’s black media director.
The Trump campaign also referenced an incident in 2020, when Biden made a racially loaded comment to the popular black radio host Charlamagne tha God.
“In 2020, he had the audacity to say, ‘If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black,'” the campaign’s spokeswoman added.
The Trump campaign’s voter outreach in deep blue majority-minority areas highlights the former president’s attempt to pull together a winning coalition of diverse voters.
During a recent Bronx rally, Trump addressed crowds in a 59% Hispanic, 34% black precinct that voted 84% for Biden in 2020. In April, he was well-received during an Atlanta Chick-fil-A visit in an 81% black precinct that voted 93% for Biden in 2020.
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A spokeswoman for the Trump campaign told the Washington Examiner, “Black voters are also frustrated with the Biden administration prioritizing illegal immigrants over our interests and oppose Biden’s policies on men in women’s sports. President Trump sees this and will continue to show up and listen to the issues facing our communities, as he has done in Atlanta, Harlem, and the Bronx.”
Trump appears to be intimately involved in gearing up the GOP’s outreach to black voters. In March, he specifically directed the GOP to target Wayne County, a traditionally Democratic stronghold located in Michigan. The former president has also said picking a minority vice presidential candidate could boost his chances of clinching a win in November, adding former Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), both black Republicans, to his vice presidential short list.
The Washington Examiner contacted the Biden campaign for comment.