There is a pervasive but deeply flawed understanding in American politics about the political ideology of African Americans. Too many think black voters are solidly liberal, when in reality this isn’t true.
This is due to the high percentage of African Americans who vote for Democrats over Republicans, typically around 90%, the highest voting rate of any ethnicity in the United States for a single party. As a result of this, it is assumed that most African Americans subscribe to left-wing ideology, but that is far from the case — and Super Tuesday was one of the clearest revelations of that in modern political history.
The misunderstanding comes as a result of not understanding the structural criteria on which African Americans vote. Many African Americans are consequentialist in their voting, concerned first and foremost with the practical outcomes of their vote. However, being a historically disadvantaged group whose experiences with government and its structures are mixed, to say the least, African Americans are guided by more than just consequentialism.
Many black voters are principally concerned with, and guided by, the idea of what will morally preserve African American standing with the least regressive harm, while simultaneously promoting progressive advancements on civil rights and civil liberties, in addition to advancing group education, economic progress, safety, and health.
Many older African Americans, whose set of experiences are often more pronounced, feel an obligation to preserve a national politics that creates a better future for the next generation.
As Rep. James Clyburn said in his remarks when introducing Joe Biden, whom he has endorsed:
The South Carolina Democrat articulated an obligation to protect the body politic against what he believes are regressive politics under the current administration. Many African Americans feel the same way.
It is this philosophical disposition that caused many African Americans to overwhelmingly vote for Biden over Sanders. A whopping 61% of black voters voted for Biden in South Carolina, 62% in North Carolina, 69% in Virginia, 58% in Texas, and even in California, a state that Biden lost due to its large Hispanic population and Sanders’s popularity among the group, Biden received 37% of the black vote, more than double of what Sanders received.
In 10 out of the 14 states that Joe Biden won, he received more than half of the black vote. And in the four states that he lost to Bernie Sanders, Biden still received the majority of black support despite Sanders’s overall superior performance in those states.
Pew Research Center data shows that 43% of black Democrats consider themselves moderate, 29% liberal, and 25% conservative, making the combined total of African Americans who call themselves moderate or conservative 68%. This sets black voters apart from white Democrats and even Hispanic Democrats. About 55% of white voters and 37% of Hispanic voters respectively consider themselves liberal, according to the same study.
The ideological composition of African Americans has formed over time as a result of the history of this country. Black voters reject Sanders’s “democratic socialism” because they view it as risky compared to Biden’s moderate and pragmatic stance, which they view as more likely to safeguard their important gains. Does it help that Biden was vice president to the first black president? Yes, but black voters are still quite calculating in their decisions.
Black voters like Sanders, and 71% have a favorable view of him as a person. But when it came down to their vote, black voters were decisive, and made it clear that Sanders as the nominee of the Democratic Party was too risky, since defeating President Trump is their priority.
Shermichael Singleton (@Shermichael_) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is a Republican strategist and political analyst regularly appearing on MSNBC.
