Source: Amy Sussman / Getty
California Rep. Maxine Waters is casting doubt in no uncertain terms on the accuracy of a recent wave of polling that has steadily found President Joe Biden losing support among Black voters in favor of Donald Trump’s candidacy.
The Democratic Congresswoman shared her thoughts during a recent appearance on MSNBC ahead of the upcoming Democratic primary in South Carolina, a contest that has traditionally been expected to reflect the tenor of Black voters across the country.
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Waters suggested that a conservative-led effort to distort Biden’s record by spewing misinformation to Black America has effectively prevailed. She also questioned whether polls that claim more Black voters will be casting ballots for Trump would actually come true.
“I think that Trump and the Republicans have been doing everything that they can to get the people of the country to believe that … he’s losing the Black vote,” Waters told Jonathan Capehart. “I don’t buy it yet.”
Continuing, Waters also said, “I don’t know which polls are the ones leading this argument but I think we have some work to do to make sure that Blacks are being told that [Republicans are] attempting to use us. They’re attempting to divide us. They’re attempting to use you to say that you’re going to be responsible for helping to get Trump get elected.”
Waters said Biden has fulfilled plenty of promises he made to Black America as a candidate in 2020, including successfully nominating a Black woman to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“He said he was gonna do it, he did it,” Waters said before crediting Biden with efforts to confront the pandemic, climate change, reducing inflation and more.
“Biden has done everything that he said he would do,” Waters said.
South Carolina’s Democratic Party chair Christale Spain – the first Black woman to serve in that position – similarly pointed to a messaging issue about what she described as Biden’s wins for Black America.
“I really feel like what you all [in the media] are reporting as an enthusiasm gap is an information gap,” Spain, who campaigned alongside Biden last weekend, told Politico.
“Just being in the president’s presence this weekend and seeing how well he was received … and him talking about how well Democrats have delivered, I think that Black voters will turn out for him,” Spain added. “I see the [negative perceptions] about him online, but I don’t feel it here in the state, especially when we’re going around talking to Black voters about this administration’s accomplishments.”
Spain then pointed to the presumptive presidential choice voters will have between Biden and Trump as the motivating factor for Black voters on Election Day.
“I don’t see a scenario where Black voters won’t vote for Joe Biden,” Spain continued before adding later: “I don’t know anyone who wants to go back to Trump’s crazy.”
Republicans are definitely working hard to court Black voters this year, including unorthodox strategies like opposing a proposed federal ban on menthol cigarettes, which data shows are disproportionately smoked by Black people.
Biden’s stance on the conflict in Gaza may also be turning off some Black voters who oppose the same white supremacy system in Israel that has been fueling what critics have called the “genocide” of Palestinian people.
The polling has centered on Biden and Trump, but third-party candidates have also been receiving outsize support from Black voters who are interested in an alternative outside of the mainstream political parties.
Twenty percent of Black voters – Biden’s most loyal base – expect to cast their ballots on Election Day for neither the incumbent nor Trump, according to a USA Today/Suffolk University Poll that was released earlier this month.
That’s likely why independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. held a roundtable discussion with Black women in Atlanta a few weeks ago.
Separately, a poll from late last year found that Trump would defeat Biden while enjoying a level of support from Black voters in crucial battleground states previously “unseen” by a Republican candidate seeking the White House.
This is America.
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The post Maxine Waters Rejects Narrative That More Black Voters Support Trump: ‘They’re Attempting To Divide Us’ appeared first on NewsOne.
The post Maxine Waters Rejects Narrative That More Black Voters Support Trump: ‘They’re Attempting To Divide Us’ appeared first on Black America Web.