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Biden and Harris Take Their Act on the Road Searching for Black Votes

AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough

Another week, another launch of a plan to win back black voter support for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. How many times can the Biden-Harris re-election campaign re-introduce the ticket? We're about to find out.

It will be the Summer of the Black Voter if the plan works out. There is no way that Biden and Harris can get re-elected without the strong support of black voters. They are trying to sell a failed administration as a success. Voters are not stupid. 

They are starting in Pennsylvania today. Pennsylvania is a crucial battleground state. The aggregated total at Real Clear Politics has Trump up over Biden by 2.3% in Pennsylvania. Biden won the state in 2020. 

The new voter outreach effort will take them to Girard College, an independent boarding school in Philadelphia. The student body there is predominantly black. Biden and Harris will also speak to members of the Black Chamber of Commerce during a visit to a small business. 

This summer-long effort is described as an eight-figure initiative to engage with black student organizations, community groups, and faith centers.

"We will continue to be aggressive, innovative, and thorough in our work to earn the support of the very voters who sent Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to the White House in 2020 and will do so again in 2024,” said Quentin Fulks, Biden's principal deputy campaign manager.

Every poll shows an erosion in black support for Biden. Biden's approval by black adults dropped from 94% when he was inaugurated to 55% now, according to a poll published by AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research in March. 

To quote Democrat strategist James Carville, it's the economy, stupid. Biden may try to take credit for lower inflation rates now but it was his aggressive spending for federal programs that drove a 1.4% inflation rate to a whopping 9% rate in 2022. Trump left him an economy with 1.4% inflation and in no time, Biden's horrible policy decisions blew that up. The economy was already showing green shoots at the end of the Trump administration in its pandemic recovery. Biden, in a rush to prove he was the not-Trump president, trampled all over the recovery. Economic recovery from the pandemic was stifled and slowed thanks to Joe Biden.

Black voters feel the hit in their wallets when they grocery shop or fill up the gas tank in their car. They feel it in rising rent or mortgage payments. Biden's economy has 60% of the general public stating that they live paycheck to paycheck. 

There is also the problem with Biden's drop in approval in black communities due to his reactions to the Israel-Hamas war. Muslim Arab American voters are pledging to not vote for Biden in November. They want an immediate and permanent ceasefire agreement in place right now. Biden continues to flip-flop on his support for Israel, depending on the day. Biden is desperate for Muslim support in areas like Dearborn, Michigan. Michigan is a battleground state. Biden panders to these voters at the expense of America's relationship with Israel, our longtime loyal ally. It is dangerous and simply wrong. 

Joe Biden is an empty suit. He tries to be all things to all people. A problem is that he is running for re-election as though he is running for the Senate, not president. Voters see his indecision on important matters. Every time he addresses a crowd, he tries to be relatable to his audience by making false, often bizarre, claims. He is on the record for saying he was raised in the Puerto Rican community in Delaware, the Jewish community, the Asian community, and yes, the black community. He claims that the NAACP was the first organization he joined. None of his claims hold water. Biden is a habitual liar. 

Voters don't like the re-match between Biden and Trump. However, conservative voters and independents are circling the wagons around Trump. The lawfare being conducted against Trump is shoving independents and suburban voters toward Trump. We'll know soon enough if a conviction in the hush money trial winding down in Manhattan would change any of that. It is reasonable to expect a guilty verdict against Trump since the jury is stacked with Democrats, the judge is a Trump-hating Biden contributor, and the judge's daughter is a Democrat fundraiser who is currently raising money on the trial. 

Can the jury come to a conclusion that Trump is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt? That remains to be seen. Can a crime be found in which to convict Trump? It is clear that the whole exercise is politically motivated. Democrats are admitting that there is no there there. The best we can hope for at this point is a hung jury.

Some Democrat strategists say that Biden is losing black and other minority voters because of the campaign's lack of cohesive messaging. James Carville, for example, has been relentless in his criticism of the Biden campaign for concentrating on the wrong issues. He says that black voters aren't coming home to the Democrat Party because Biden is talking about student loan debt forgiveness and climate change. Voters are more concerned about the economy and the southern border. The problem for Biden is that he has failed miserably on both those issues. 

Biden is focusing on progressive talking points like abortion and transgender activism when many black voters are socially conservative. 

The same concerns apply to young voters. They, too, are abandoning Biden. Carville points to Democrat messaging.

“We keep wondering why these young people are not coming home to the Democrats,” Carville, 79, said in a video episode of his Politicon podcast.

“Why are blacks not coming home to the Democrats? Because Democrat messaging is full of s–t, that’s why.”

I disagree. I don't think the key is better messaging. The problem as I see it is that Joe Biden is old. Ask a group of voters to describe Biden in one word and the first word is always old. There is nothing Biden can do about that. He has dementia. There is nothing he can do about that. He is physically feeble. Again, he can't change that at his age. 

It is mostly the dementia thing. Biden doesn't know what he is saying and he can't deliver a coherent message. When he speaks, a clean-up is required by the staff. The White House transcripts of Biden's speeches require regular corrections. Everyone sees Biden's decline in real-time. 

Is the start of this reboot for the Biden-Harris campaign's outreach to black voters starting in the best way? Biden has barely campaigned and when he does, it's with small events and small crowds. Is a boarding school the best venue for outreach? I understand meeting with black business owners but that, too, sounds like a small event. 

Black voters are being drawn to Trump because he is talking about issues that concern them. He pledges to close the open southern border, clean up crime in cities, and lower taxes that benefit all income levels as he did when he was in office, and he spotlights the politicization of the criminal justice system. Trump is an old, wealthy white man but he is relatable to them. He did a campaign rally in the Bronx and Bronx residents showed up in huge numbers. They want to hear what he has to say.

Will the rise in black voter support for Trump hold until the election in November? That is the question. If it does, Biden is toast. 











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David Strom 3:20 PM | November 15, 2024
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