President Biden is struggling to attract Black Michigan voters in the key swing state as election-day voting got underway Tuesday, a new poll shows.
The survey by the Howard University Initiative on Public Opinion shows Mr. Biden‘s support among Black voters has plummeted to 49%. He received 94% of the Black vote in Michigan in 2020, a level that was seven points higher than the national average.
Former President Donald Trump‘s support from the same demographic has ticked up to 26% — triple the share that he received in 2020.
The poll showed a tremendous gender difference, despite the increased support for Mr. Trump.
“It’s African American men that are more likely to support the former president than their female counterparts,” said Terri Adams-Fuller, director of the poll. The survey earlier this month included 412 Black registered voters.
The Washington Times reached out to the Biden campaign but did not immediately hear back.
Mr. Biden‘s weakening support among Black male voters remains a concern among Democrats. David Axelrod, former senior adviser to President Barack Obama, warned Monday on CNN that the issue is not an outlier.
“I don’t dismiss the issue of young Black men. And I think that’s something that the Biden campaign and Democrats need to keep an eye on,” he said. “Because I don’t think it’s just a statistical blip. This has been a trend line.”
The Trump campaign is reaching out to Black voters. Mr. Trump made an appearance at the Black Conservative Federation Annual Gala late last week in Columbia, South Carolina. At the event, he received the “Champion of Black America” award.
Critics of Mr. Trump hit back at him for remarks that he made at the gala when he claimed that “Black people like me” because of the numerous criminal indictments he is facing and they can relate to the unfair justice system he is fighting.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Mr. Trump comparing his legal fight to systemic racism in the criminal justice system is “self-serving.”
“It is repugnant and divisive to traffic in racist stereotypes that have the effect of tearing all Americans down,” she said. “It is profane to compare the long, painful history of abuse and discrimination suffered by Black Americans to something totally different.”
Black Conservative Federation President Diante Johnson responded that Black Americans are “waking up.”
“Black Americans are waking up to the reality that the Democratic Party has taken advantage of them, and the media and the party are terrified,” Mr. Johnson said in a statement to The Associated Press on Monday, responding to backlash over Mr. Trump‘s speech.
“No amount of media deception or liberal race-baiting will sway the minds of Black voters who will cast their ballots this November for safer streets, a better financial well-being, a secure border, and a complete rejection of Joe Biden‘s disastrous tenure,” he said.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.