Former President Barack Obama cautioned Vice President Kamala Harris’s supporters on Thursday regarding the insufficient backing she is receiving from black voters, particularly among “the brothers.” This caution indicates that leading Democrats are increasingly concerned about Harris’s declining support within this demographic.
According to a Pew Research poll conducted on September 30, only 84 percent of black voters indicated they would cast their ballots for Harris, while 13 percent expressed their intention to vote for Trump. This marks an eight-point decrease in support for Harris compared to President Joe Biden’s performance in 2020, when he garnered 92 percent of the black vote.
A recent Washington Post/Ipsos poll revealed that only 80 percent of black men support Harris, and a NAACP poll indicated that one in four individuals under the age of 50 expressed support for Trump.
“We have not yet seen the same kinds of energy and turnout in all quarters of our neighborhoods and communities, as we saw when I was running,” Obama told Harris supporters in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty.
“Now, I also want to say that seems to be more pronounced with the brothers,” Obama said. “So if you don’t mind, just for a second, I’m going to speak to y’all, and say that when you have a choice that is this clear, when on the one hand, you have somebody who grew up like you, knows you, went to college with you, understands the struggles and pain and joy that comes from those experiences.”
“She’s had to work harder and do more and overcome and achieves the second highest office in the land,” Obama said of Harris:
🚨 BREAKING: BARACK OBAMA SOUNDS THE ALARM on lower black – and black male – enthusiasm for Kamala Harris.
"We have not yet seen the same kinds of energy […] That [lower enthusiasm] seems to be more pronounced with the brothers."pic.twitter.com/IPp7Y9nAHf
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) October 10, 2024
There seems to be a noticeable shift among Black voters away from the Democratic Party. Between 2018 and 2022, the percentage of Black voters supporting the Republican Party increased from nine percent to thirteen percent. This trend towards the Republican Party reflects a broader realignment of political affiliations that has occurred since Donald Trump entered the political arena in 2016, promoting a citizen-first agenda. On Thursday, former President Obama countered Trump’s assertion that the Black community in urban areas is particularly affected by the influx at the southern border, which he claims depresses wages, raises rents, and burdens emergency services.
Watch:
Obama: Now if you challenge Trump to elaborate and enumerate, his concepts, he will fall back on one answer. Vance does the same thing, it doesn't matter what the issue is, housing, healthcare, education, paying bills, their only answer is to blame immigrants. pic.twitter.com/rTcpMrIpJQ
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 11, 2024
