Election 2020: How Does President Donald Trump Fare with Black Voters?

 

President Trump wants to receive 95 percent of the Black vote in 2020.

 

 

President Donald Trump and the African-American Voter


Where does the 45th President of the United States stand with the African-American community?


President Donald Trump’s first term in the White House meets the definition of polarizing to say the least.


It seems either people love him or hate him, with very little gray area in between.


President Trump has enjoyed some accomplishments.


But he has endured his share of head scratching moments like his endless tweets and his behavior that led to his impeachment.


Regardless, Trump still stands a solid chance of making it to his second term in office because the Republican Party dominates the United States Senate, which means removal from office is highly unlikely.


Furthermore, no Democratic presidential candidate has truly separated himself or herself from the pack.


And while African-Americans usually lean heavily to the left when voting for presidents, Trump has still tried to secure some victories that he hopes impresses the African-American community like prison reform.


The First Step Act has led to many non-violent African-American inmates getting released from prison.


More than 3,000 inmates have gotten released.


Furthermore, an additional 1,700 people convicted of crack cocaine offenses have seen their sentences reduced because of the First Step Act.


“We’re going to campaign for every last African-American vote in 2020,” Trump said at a “Black Voices for Trump” rally in Atlanta. “We’ve done more for African-Americans in three years than the broken Washington establishment has done in more than 30 years.”


Trump added that “the Democrat Party already left you a long time ago…if you don’t want liberal extremists to run your lives, then today we say welcome to the Republican Party.”


At the Atlanta event, Trump went in on the Democrats and their approach to immigration.


He said, “Democrats want to give welfare and free health care to illegal aliens, courtesy of you, the American taxpayer and the African-American community. Republicans believe that public benefits should be protected for American citizens…


“The money that we spend on illegal aliens we could be rebuilding our inner city, repairing our crumbling infrastructure and fixing our terrible public schools…but instead Democrats want to redistribute your wealth all over the entire world.”


Nearly 300 supporters chanted “four more years” as Trump made his pitch to African-American voters at the “Black Voices for Trump” event.


Trump said, “Democrats want to invest in green global projects. I want to invest in Black American communities.”


Nevertheless, many African-Americans find it hard to forget him calling some African nations, s-hole countries.


Many of those same African-Americans cannot forget the fact that he advocated for giving the Exonerated Five (five innocent African-American and Latino teenagers in New York) the death penalty for a brutal Central Park rape and assault they did not commit in the late 1980s.


Many African-Americans cannot forget Trump holding on to the “Birther” conspiracy surrounding former President Barack Obama, which asserted that the 44th President of the United States could not hold the highest office in the land because he allegedly was born out of the country.


Those allegations have always been false since President Obama’s mother gave birth to him in Hawaii after Hawaii became a U.S. state.


And many African-Americans cannot forget allegations of racial discrimination when it came to selling and renting Trump’s real estate back in the 1970s.


More importantly, many African-Americans have disliked the fervor at Trump rallies with some characterizing them as Ku Klux Klan rallies.


For some African-American voters it is hard to forget Trump encouraging his supporters to assault protestors, then seeing a White Trump supporter punching an African-American man walking up the steps of the stadium.


Additionally, Trump did not endear himself to African-American voters when he did not support former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and his protest of systemic racism and police brutality by taking a knee during the National Anthem.


Nevertheless, Trump has a 10 percent approval rating amongst African-Americans.


He also received eight percent of the African-American vote in 2016.


However, he has never appeared satisfied with that eight percent.


“At the end of four years, I guarantee you that I will get over 95 percent of the African-American vote,” Trump said in 2016. “I promise you. Because I produce.”


Despite that “production,” he has to produce something that will garner him the support of at least 85 percent more of African-American voters to meet his 2020 goal.


To put that in context, former President George W. Bush had a 43 percent approval rating amongst African-Americans after Sept. 11.


In addition, President Bush had a 46 percent approval rating amongst African-Americans the next year in 2002.


Unfortunately, Bush’s approval rating fell back to Earth amongst African-Americans by the end of his first term, with an 11 percent approval rating.


Bush averaged 10 percent of the African-American vote in his two elections, 2000 and 2004.


The 43rd President of the United States received eight percent of the African-American vote in 2000 and 11 percent of the African-American vote in 2004.


African-American support for the Republican Party has remained low since 1976.


Former President Gerald Ford received 17 percent of the African-American vote in 1976.


On the contrary, Senator John McCain only received four percent of the African-American vote when he ran against Obama in 2008.


Many Trump supporters viewed the fact that he received eight percent of the African-American vote in 2016, while Governor Mitt Romney only received six percent of the African-American vote in 2012 as a good sign for Trump.


But critics believe that Governor Romney and Sen. McCain before him did so poorly with African-American voters because they faced an African-American opponent in Obama.


Nevertheless, some African-Americans remain steadfast in their support for Trump.


“We have been allowing ourselves to be ignored politically,” said Lateresa Jones, 55, a supporter of “Black Voices for Trump” coalition. “Our president has an urban agenda that will grow every urban community across our country.”

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