According to surveys, former president Donald Trump's advantages with Black voters have diminished after Vice President Kamala Harris emerged as the presumed Democratic contender in the 2024 contest and Joe Biden withdrew from the contest.
Shortly after declaring on Sunday that he was withdrawing his campaign for reelection, Biden backed Harris. It followed weeks of demands for his resignation following a dismal debate performance against Republican contender Donald Trump, which cast doubt on his chances of winning in November and securing a second term.
Leading Democrats swiftly united around Harris, and by Monday night, The Associated Press said, she had enough Democratic delegates' support to be nominated by her party.
Being of Black and South Asian origin, Harris would be the first woman of color to lead a major party's ticket if she receives a nomination at the Democratic National Convention next month.
Recent polling suggested that Biden was losing the support of Black voters, who were essential to his win in 2020. 92% of Black Americans cast ballots for Biden in 2020, with only 8% supporting Trump.
Surveys undertaken after Harris declared her candidacy indicate that the possibility of a historic Harris presidency may excite Black voters who had been frustrated with Biden.
In July and July 23, a CNN poll of 1,631 registered voters who had taken part in CNN surveys in April and June revealed that 78 percent of Black voters supported Harris, while 15 percent supported Trump. In a prior survey, 73 percent of Black voters supported Biden and only 23 percent supported Trump.
In the meanwhile, a July 21–23 ActiVote survey revealed that Black voters were largely in favor of Harris—90% indicated they did, compared to 10% who supported Trump.
Email comments have been requested from the Trump and Harris camps.
According to Thomas Gift, an associate professor of political science and the head of the Centre on U.S. Politics at University College London in the United Kingdom, "black voters peeling away from Trump suggest that his hold on this demographic was always tenuous," as reported by Newsweek.
"The question is whether those losses are compensated for by an increase in Trump's support by other voters, especially white, working-class Americans who Biden appealed to by emphasizing his blue-collar, Scranton roots."
The Black community has shown Harris support since she declared her campaign. A "Black Men for Harris" internet streaming event gathered tens of thousands of pledges to support Harris, while some 90,000 Black women joined a video call for her campaign on Sunday night, according to the AP.
Harris commended the members of the historically Black sorority Zeta Phi Beta in Indianapolis on Wednesday night for their efforts in choosing Biden as president and her as vice president.
"And now, in this moment, our nation needs your leadership once again," she continued. "I think we have to choose right now between two distinct visions for our country: one that is centered on the past and the other on the future. And I'm battling for the future of our country with your help."
The Trump team has been targeting African American voters, arguing that because African Americans can connect to being singled out by an unjust criminal justice system, the former president's legal troubles will make him more likeable to them. However, other polls indicated that Black voters were abandoning Trump following his conviction for felonies earlier this year, making him the first former US president to do so.
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