Black voters may be the backbone of the Democratic Party, but to some, they don’t always feel like it.
Now, with only two weeks to go before Election Day in a handful of tight midterm races that could decide the balance of power in Congress, a struggling economy is threatening to undermine the support Democrats have historically had from the black community.
<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1666977134161,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"00000175-4195-d820-abff-7fdf1f080000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1666977134161,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"00000175-4195-d820-abff-7fdf1f080000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_66977116", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1095886"} }); ","_id":"00000184-1f94-da74-a1bd-1f94507b0000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video Embed
“It is understandable that black voters are dissatisfied,” Barry Burden, director of the Elections Research Center and political science professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, told the Washington Examiner. “They are experiencing the challenges of inflation that are making rent, grocery, gas, and other needs more expensive. Even though wages are rising, many people are losing ground financially, more so in the black community.”
Burden added that some of President Joe Biden’s legislative wins haven’t landed as well as Democrats would have liked.
MIDTERMS 2022 LIVE: UPDATES FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL AHEAD OF CRUCIAL ELECTION
“The administration’s biggest accomplishments such as forgiving student loan debt, putting a cap on the cost of insulin, imposing gun control restrictions, upgrading infrastructure, and appointing Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court haven’t resulted in many tangible differences in people’s lives, at least not yet,” he added. “It has been a successful presidency so far in terms of the scope of policy changes and appointments of federal judges. [But] part of the problem for Biden is a failure to communicate his successes to the public. The fast pace of the news cycle and attention to unexpected events such as the war in Ukraine and the Dobbs decision have been distractions.”
Virginia voter Angie Smithbey told the Washington Examiner she had been active in politics when she was in her 20s and early 30s but in the years since has become frustrated by last-minute “hollow pandering” by both parties.
“It’s difficult to take anything they say seriously when every full-throated promise has come up empty,” she said.
If black turnout dips noticeably this year, it could derail Democrats’ path to victory in gubernatorial and high-stake Senate races across the country, including in Georgia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.
A recent Politico-Morning Consult poll found just 25% of black registered voters described themselves as “extremely enthusiastic” about voting in the midterm elections, compared to about 37% of white voters and 35% of Hispanic voters.
The Congressional Black Caucus PAC Independent Expenditure is mobilizing black voters in 28 midterm races in battleground states, USA Today reported Friday. The campaign will feature digital, radio, and print ads in primarily black newspapers, targeted cable buys, and social media posts that will address economic concerns, racism, and voting rights.
In Georgia, former President Barack Obama stumped for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock on Friday in an effort to energize the base.
Political strategist Michael Hardaway told the Washington Examiner that black voters have not received the proper amount of engagement from the Democratic Party and that “neither party is entitled to black voters and neither party has done a decent job courting the black vote.”
OVER HALF OF BLACKS AND LATINOS FACE ‘SERIOUS’ PROBLEMS DUE TO INFLATION: POLL
“Typically around Election Day, they roll out a rapper or some famous black person to try to galvanize the black vote, which is insufficient and really insulting,” Hardaway said. “I think Democrats really have many issues to that end, but black voters are sophisticated voters, and they are smart enough to know that, just because there are issues at home, that the other side, in terms of the Republican Party, is not an option for many reasons.”
He added that the GOP strategy for black voters involves rolling out “some outrageous black candidate that they think black people will just vote for just because the person is black, which is incredibly insane and infuriating and insulting.”
Hardaway, who once worked for the Democratic National Committee but now works with CEOs, said the goal going forward for both political parties is to have a better black voter engagement strategy.
“The Republican Party’s strategy is pandering in a way that is deeply offensive,” he said. “The Democratic Party strategy is just naive.”
CLICK HERE FOR MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
In Michigan, Ronald Brown, an associate professor at Wayne State University who specializes in race and politics, believes election integrity and inflation are two topics that will galvanize black voters.
“I think it is going to drive African Americans to the polls this time, also because of the importance of the vote for African American voters,” he told WKAR. “This question of loyalty to the Democratic Party is out of necessity.”
