The nearly monolithic black vote forms the base of the Democratic Party. Democrats couldn’t win national elections without the overwhelming support from this demographic. They haven’t had very much to worry about until this election, in which a large number of African American millennials aren’t excited to cast a ballot for Hillary Clinton.
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Liberal advocacy groups held a series of focus group with young black voters and found that Clinton was nearly as unpopular with this key demographic as Donald Trump, The New York Times reported.
“What am I supposed to do if I don’t like him and I don’t trust her?” said a millennial black woman in Ohio. “Choose between being stabbed and being shot? No way!”
“She was part of the whole problem that started sending blacks to jail,” another black millennial said about Clinton.
Clinton’s comments about “super predators,” her email scandal, and her support for military intervention have hurt her with young voters of all races. According to the Red Alert Politics millennial polling average, the Democratic nominee doesn’t even break 45 percent support among young voters.
Between young black voters’ lack of enthusiasm and Trump’s efforts to sway even the smallest percentage of older black voters, Clinton could see closer races than she’d like in states like Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.
According to a report by Democratic pollster Cornell Belcher, Clinton is underperforming Barack Obama by 22 points among black millennials in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
Former Bernie Sanders staffers have said that part of Clinton’s problem is that her outreach method is outdated and unable to connect with young black voters.
