Trump Has Historic Opportunity to Secure Black Vote

(The following does not represent a political endorsement of any candidate or political party on behalf of Newsmax.)

No topic has occupied political observers in 2023 more than President Biden’s apparent slippage with Black voters. To date, this phenomenon has only been detected in broad "Horse Race" surveys. The crucial questions of causation, durability and whether former President Trump can build on his gains in 2020 have gone unasked.

Until now.

The national polls we ran at John Jordan Polling LLC first in 2022 and then in 2023 paint a complex picture of a Democratic Party that is moving away from the interests and values of a majority of Black voters and a Democrat president with whom there is growing unease. The counterweight to this movement is the deeply felt and multi-generational association with the Democrat party.

This association is about to celebrate its 60^th birthday in 2024 on the anniversary of the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. GOP operatives have learned the hard way that the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s is a defining characteristic of the Black Experience and has wedded at least two generations of Black voters to the Democratic Party.

It is this connection that the left has used to ensure the loyalty of Black voters. The left has been very creative with the themes they have developed to bring "home" and turn out this vital constituency in every election since.

Nontheless, the tension between Democrat orthodoxy in 2023 and a significant fraction of Black Americans is real — especially for younger voters. Among our findings is a startling departure from the dogma of the post 2020 left; and a rejection of many narratives pushed by the media where Black voters are concerned.

• 62% of Respondents say that police need to do more to catch and punish shoplifters.
• 66% Say they support law enforcement in stopping robberies and crime in inner cities.
• 43% Blame the Democrats’ massive spending for causing a spike in interest rates making it difficult to buy a home
• 75% Are outraged at seeing people rob stores in daylight
• 41% say Biden and Democrats are more focused on Transgender Issues than on helping Black Families and Communities.
• 62% Support increasing funding for Charter Schools and greater control over which school their children attend
• 80% Say a child under 18 should obtain parental consent prior to any gender reassignment procedures.

Although Trump receives 22% in our (and other) surveys his ceiling is limited by the effectiveness of the efforts of the Democrats and their media allies in labeling him a racist. Sixty-five percent of respondents in our survey believe Trump is in fact a racist while 23% do not.

While 22% support among any group may seem low a little perspective is in order. To wit: This would be half again what Trump received in 2020 (14%) and more than twice what Willard ‘Call Me Mitt’ Romney received in 2012 (9%).

Going into 2024, President Trump has two tasks with Black voters: Grow his support to 27% and immunize himself against the inevitable efforts by the left to bring these voters back home by (again) demonizing him in the most fact-free of ways to distract from the disaster of the Biden administration.

Here is what President Trump must do:

First: Loudly, frequently and in media spaces frequented by Black voters contrast his views on the above issues with those of the New Democratic Party.

Most Black Americans will end up voting for Biden and that is to be expected. However, by having views that are in line with the majority of Black voters and communicating this to Black voters directly will make it easier for those that support him to do so and make the inevitable Democrat attacks less credible.

Second: Push back on the "Trump is a racist" trope. President Trump has a lot of material here.

In our work only 41% were aware that President Trump championed and signed the First Step Act, legislation that reduced the prison sentences that were both extremely harsh and disproportionately affected Black men. This was a huge issue for more than a decade for Black voters, and Trump got it done.

The media, of course, never talked about this in an effort to contain any growth in Trump’s support among Black Americans. This has to change.

Similarly, 58% in our survey were completely unaware of then-Sen. Biden’s role in enacting harsh federal sentencing guidelines for nonviolent offenders in the 1990s. The media never mentions racist comments he made on the Senate floor. Not to mention the fact that he was a close friend of and political ally of Robert Byrd, who aside from being a U.S. senator was a Grand Cyclops in the KKK.

Trump should lean into this and contest the "racist" label if he is to have any hope of capitalizing on the discontent with Joe Biden. Trump has a historic opportunity for a landslide win next year, and it just may be that his support among Black Americans will complete what Joe Biden started: The collapse of the Democratic Party in 2024.