Four years ago, Donald Trump famously called for Black voters to disentangle themselves from the Democratic party and line up behind his campaign, asking: “What do you have to lose?"
Only 8% took him up on that invitation then, and those numbers don’t seem to be any better this time around.
But even a fraction of improvement in his performance among Black voters could make the difference in a volatile election — particularly in Georgia, where he is running neck-and-neck with former vice president Joe Biden.
The president will make the case directly to Black Georgians on Friday afternoon with a speech on economic empowerment that he calls his “Platinum Plan.” He picked Atlanta for the event, in part, because the city was also a launching pad for the “Black Voices for Trump” group that he announced last November.
Credit: Curtis Compton/AJC
Credit: Curtis Compton/AJC
For a Republican who boasts that he’s been the best president for “Black Americans since Abraham Lincoln,” Trump has his work cut out for him in Georgia. The latest Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll shows only 5% of Black voters said they would support him, while 85% back Biden. About 8% of Black voters remain undecided.
An overwhelming 87% of Black voters feel that Biden will do a better job of addressing America’s racial disparities.
“I think it’s a fool’s errand,” former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams said Thursday of Trump’s visit, adding that the president’s record has been one of failure on issues ranging from the coronavirus to racial justice. "I hope what he takes away from the state of Georgia tomorrow is that he’s no longer welcome here.”
Still, there’s a strategic reason for the visit. Black voters are the cornerstone of the Democratic coalition in Georgia and siphoning away votes from Biden undercuts his chance of flipping the state to blue for the first time since 1992.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Beyond that, Trump’s appearance with voters of color sends a message to some of his white supporters that it’s OK to back his campaign.
It’s not a nascent effort from the president. Trump has been running ads in newspapers that cover Black communities and on urban radio stations. He’s also staged dozens of events nationally aimed at Black voters, said Paris Dennard, the GOP’s senior communications adviser for Black Media Affairs.
Biden also has run ads targeting Black voters, and national polls show his support among them at about 89%.
“Trump ran on a promise of what he wanted to do and could do, relying on a positive relationship with the Black community,” Dennard said. “It is a priority of the president. We believe that President Trump has a winning message for the Black community.”
Credit: Ernie Suggs
Credit: Ernie Suggs
Roderick Dupree, a 38-year-old machine operator from Lawrenceville, is a believer. He will be casting his ballot for Trump this November. “Since he has been in office, I have made more money than ever,” Dupree said.
“There are enough jobs out here for everybody,” he said. “And it doesn’t bother me how he talks. The majority of Black people I know talk just as bad as he does. I don’t look at it as being racist. I see it as someone who has an opinion. If you look at it, before he became president, everybody loved Trump. Once he became president, everybody hates him.”
Shelby Steele, a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, that Trump “wants to be liked in the Black community,” and has “given witness to the circumstances” of Black people.
The conservative scholar — who will soon release what he calls a “controversial” new documentary, “What Killed Michael Brown?” — sees a growing number of Black voters turning to the political right.
“It [used to be] inconceivable that you would shake hands with a Republican. That’s changing," Steele said. "There are Blacks today who are proud to be Republicans, and that’s a healthy sign. Our association with the American left is an overwhelming destructive force. We have volunteered to be on a plantation.”
Edward Muldrow, who has been chairman of the Gwinnett County Republican Party for two years, said Black voters have been taken for granted by Democrats for decades, while their vote was seen as unattainable by the GOP.
Trump has changed that narrative, he said.
“Black voters, whether on the Republican side or the Democratic side, are needed because we play a large, integral part in all aspects of this country,” Muldrow said. “We are citizens of this country, plain and simple. We have a voice.”
Trump’s 2016 campaign benefited from the fact that Black voters did not show up in numbers for Hillary Clinton like they did for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.
In 2020, Trump is touting a “law and order” agenda, trying to block efforts to expand ballot access and working to increase his appeal to white suburban women. At the Republican National Convention, he brought out a host of Black supporters — including Georgia’s Herschel Walker and Vernon Jones — to argue that he is the “least racist person in the world.”
Credit: undefined
Credit: undefined
“He has done something that the Democrats, for a long time, didn’t do,” Muldrow said. “He actually had conversations and put people in situations that spoke to the Black community and said, ‘I care. We care, and we would like you to be a part of what we are doing.’”
In lockstep, Black surrogates of the president, locally and nationally, say that Biden is a bigot for saying that “you ain’t Black if you vote for Trump.”
They argue that Black voters have to look past Trump’s words, even as they justify them.
Some try to draw nuance from Trump comments that have drawn criticism, like calling African nations, “s---thole countries,” or questioning Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ birthright.
Just this week, Trump attacked Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Muslim, who escaped a civil war in Somalia.
“She’s telling us how to run our country," Trump said Tuesday night at a rally in Moon Township, Pennsylvania. "How did you do where you came from? How is your country doing?”
Credit: Curtis Compton
Credit: Curtis Compton
Muldrow echoed Trump, saying that, if a person fled a country, it probably isn’t so great. “In several instances, I would have chosen my words my carefully,” said Muldrow. “But it is not for me to do the interpretation of what he meant. So I have to take him at his word.”
Supporters point to Trump’s achievements, which they say benefit Blacks, including, increased funding for historically Black colleges and universities, a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill and a tax credit program aimed at increasing investment in low-income neighborhoods.
“What I do is I highlight the facts and say look at what Trump has done for the people who gave him 8% of the vote,” said Dennard, who calls himself a “free-thinking, independent-minded Black American.” “President Trump only got 8% of the vote, while disproportionately spending his time on this group. Why? Because he genuinely cares and has an appreciation to ensure that the Black community is empowered.”
Muldrow admits that unlocking that 92% of the Black vote that rejected Trump in 2016 will be tough.
“We have to show that 92% that there is another option," he said. "And when you make the choice for that option, here is what it looks like.”
