COLUMBIA, S.C. — In South Carolina, a key nominating state where the primary electorate is more than half African American, two 2020 Democratic presidential candidates have considerable ground to make up before voting on Feb. 29 next year.
Aggregate polling numbers for Kamala Harris, the California senator, and Cory Booker, the New Jersey senator, make them second-tier candidates, at best. Harris averages 7.1% of the vote nationwide, while in South Carolina she attracts 8% support, according to RealClearPolitics data. Booker scraps by with 2.3% and 4.5%, respectively. The pair both trail white hopefuls such as former Vice President Joe Biden, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana.
The polling was released before this past weekend’s South Carolina Democratic Party Convention, where Harris and Booker both spoke, among 22 candidates in the crowded primary field.
For “pro-woman” Bamberg County Councilwoman Sharon Hammond, 65, who’s considering voting for Harris or Warren, the former California state attorney general’s biracial background isn’t a persuasive point of difference. Instead, Hammond’s leaning toward the duo because “they understand what’s going on now, and they understand the American people, and they have a great understanding of what we need.”
“I’m aware of her background. No, not a big deal at all. She’s a brown woman. And Elizabeth is a white woman,” Hammond told the Washington Examiner on the sidelines of the convention. “How many years we have been voting for people that don’t look like us? We vote for people who don’t look like us. It’s the other people that don’t vote for people that look like that. … It’s the truth and not just in South Carolina, but this entire country.”
Despite Harris and Warren being Hammond’s top choices, she’s also keeping an eye on Booker.
“He pulls you in. I love to hear him speak. He captives you. I mean, he had me mesmerized at one time,” Hammond said.
Harrison Rearden, an 83-year-old retiree from Columbia who’s still undecided, said although he will be influenced by policy positions on the economy, education, healthcare, and foreign affairs, his “No. 1 criterion in endorsing is going to be the one who stands the best chance of beating Trump.”
“The people down here care greatly about Booker and Harris. I mean, and also they are sensitive to females, Harris being a female, but I think, again I say it, we better prioritize,” Rearden said. “If we feel that either one of them can beat Trump, and they convince us of that, go for it. But we’ve got to be very careful. I’m hoping the greatest resources will go to the person that can beat Trump, otherwise we’re wasting our time.”
The black community’s practicality was evident during the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Clemson political science professor Bruce Ransom told the Washington Examiner that black voters in South Carolina didn’t wholeheartedly coalesce behind Obama, who would go on to be the country’s first African American president, until he proved himself in the Iowa caucuses that cycle.
“There’s a certain degree of racial attraction, but the more pressing question is can they win? Race alone is not sufficient,” he said. “It comes down to race, record, whether they’re consistently engaging in the state, and whether they have a reasonable chance of winning.”
Ransom added that hurdles Harris and Booker face are that she’s considered a liberal from California and he’s a Yankee.
“In terms of Booker, the past week with Biden may have given him a foothold in South Carolina, but even if he was successful, it remains to be seen who will benefit from it,” he said. “Given the time he’s spent here, to be 4% in the polls is not ideal, but there’s a lot of sorting out still to do.”
But Charles Bierbauer, the University of South Carolina’s College of Information and Communications dean emeritus, said there’s no reason why Harris and Booker can’t appeal in the state. The only problem is Trump’s driving the discussion on issues that resonate with voters, such as immigration, abortion, climate change, tariffs, and gun control, according to research released this month by the university.
“They’re issues the Democrats aren’t setting the agenda on,” Bierbauer said. “The debates will be an opportunity for them to separate themselves as they stand shoulder to shoulder, head to head, and nose to nose with each other. That being said, the comparisons that will be made can be good or bad.”
