Black voters say President Biden has abandoned his pledge to always have their backs and are threatening to withhold their support in 2024, and some are even drifting toward former President Donald Trump.
A poll by The New York Times/Siena College revealed that 22% of Black voters in six battleground states would support Mr. Trump and 71% would back Mr. Biden in a theoretical rematch.
A Republican presidential candidate hasn’t won more than 12% of the Black vote since Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956.
The lack of enthusiasm among Black voters could prove fatal to Mr. Biden‘s reelection chances. They formed the core of Mr. Biden‘s base in 2020, and a dip in just one or two battleground states, such as Georgia or Michigan, would likely determine the election outcome.
“I talk with many, many African Americans who are disappointed in the things Biden is doing,” said Raleigh Washington, who leads a religious organization aimed at helping the Black community. “He said an awful lot of things about helping African Americans, but his actions have not reflected those promises, and what he has done doesn’t really encourage or support me as an African African
Black community leaders have no one reason for the erosion of support for Mr. Biden, but many are quick to point to soaring grocery, gasoline and housing prices. Black families were hit particularly hard when inflation reached a 40-year-high last year because they trailed White Americans in income, wealth, financial savings and homeownership.
“We are still feeling the pains of the economic reset,” said Stephen Broden, a Black conservative who founded Ebony Berean to fight the culture wars in Black communities.?
“A nosebleed in the White community is a hemorrhage in the Black community,” he said. “The investment that Biden promised is not evident, and there has been a gross failure here that has awakened our community to the fact that the Democratic Party has exploited our community for votes and given us nothing in return.”
Wage gains have cooled more dramatically for Black workers than other Americans. The median weekly earnings for full-time employed Blacks people when Mr. Biden took office in January 2021 was $304. It was $299 in the third quarter of this year, according to Labor Department statistics.
For all other communities, it was $365 per week.
The unemployment rate for Black workers fell to a record low 4.7% in April but rose to 5.8% in October. That outpaced the increase for American workers overall.
Mr. Broden said Black America’s economic woes are exacerbated by Biden policies that have led to record levels of illegal immigration.
“There is a seething that is happening in our community when they look at what is happening at the border and allowing people to come in and take jobs at the lower part of the economic spectrum, which are jobs taken by the Black community,” he said.
Obey
Article URL : https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/nov/27/joe-bidens-eroding-support-from-black-voters-puts-/