In trying to hold onto Senate control, Democrats are holding onto the black vote.
In a confidential memo from a former pollster, President Obama was warned that if more black voters did not head to the voting booth for the 2014 midterm elections, the Democratic party would lose control of the Senate, according to the New York Times.
“African-American surge voters came out in force in 2008 and 2012, but they are not well positioned to do so again in 2014,” pollster Cornell Belcher wrote in the Oct. 1 memo.
“In fact, over half aren’t even sure when the midterm elections are taking place,” Belcher cautioned.
In his assessment, Belcher urged Democrats to urge black voters in Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina and possibly Arkansas to vote by invoking President Obama — a hard thing to do since many Democratic candidates have been avoiding showing a connection with him.
Now, heeding Belcher’s advice, Democrats have been using other prominent black elected officials and speakers in hopes black voters will go to the polls as they did in record fashion in 2012.
Belcher declined to say for whom the memo was written specifically, but it was circulated by the Democratic National Committee.
The White House has been “concerned that some of the campaigns are not focused enough on the importance of turning out presidential-year voters, including African-Americans,” a senior official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the New York Times.
