A panel of Black male voters opened up about why some members of the Black community still support former President Donald Trump, all while Vice President Kamala Harris is eyeing the White House.
MSNBC legal analyst and civil rights attorney Charles Coleman Jr. conducted a panel discussion entitled “Black Men in America: The Road to 2024″ with four Black male voters. With the men ranging in age, the goal was to ponder whether Harris being a nominee has swayed their vote away from Trump. “How many of you know a Black man who has expressed to you that they’re committed to voting for Donald Trump?” Coleman asked.
After all the men raised their hands, he asked the follow-up question, “Has the emergence of Kamala Harris changed that?”
The panelists all shook their heads, “No.”
The conversation took a deep dive as to why some Black men are still on the “Trump train.” Teacher Corey Alexander said of those he knows, it’s all about wanting something different. “Most of the men that I know that are on the Trump train just want something different from the status quo. And they feel as though Trump can bring that,” he said.
According to Fox News, another panelist mentioned stimulus checks as a reason behind the support, and one was concerned about “interest rates” that they believe the four-time indicted businessman will lower. “The sentiment among that group is, ‘I just need that guy in there,’” the panelist told Coleman.
In April 2024, polls revealed several Black voters were shying away from the support of President Joe Biden, who dropped his bid for reelection in mid-July 2024, due to rising living costs and struggling to make ends meet. However, they were not sold on Trump either.
Now, the Harris campaign is gaining significant momentum with Black voters. Seventy-eight percent of Black voters indicated their support for Harris, and 15% indicated support for Trump, a decrease from previous polls that saw him capture 23% of support from Black voters. “With Kamala now being the nominee, it still hasn’t changed my vote, where I was going with it,” Alexander mentioned. “Definitely excited.”
One of the other panelists highlighted the fear that if Trump gets back into office, the 2024 election may be the last time Black people have the right to vote and how a lot of people are threatening not to vote at all.
“I don’t know if we’re going to continue to have the right to vote if somebody else is in office after a number of years. So I’ve talked to a lot of brothers out there that said, ‘I’m not voting,’” Ervin Roberson Sr., an interior designer, said.
“You gotta vote. Not voting is not an option.”
Today marks only one week since Kamala Harris announced her run for President, and 100 days until Election Day. Things have changed…
Black men to brothas considering not voting: “Not voting is not an option.”
— Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline) July 28, 2024
As a takeaway from the enlightening conversation, Coleman said he feels Black voters are “not a monolith.” “It’s an intergenerational conversation that I was able to have, really inviting a bunch of different perspectives about what the enthusiasm has been since Kamala Harris has entered the race for president, and then also for some people, how it hasn’t changed,” he said.
He also pointed out that some Black voters feel pressured to support Harris regardless of how they feel about her policies that touch on issues that matter most to them. A survey from the Black Futures Lab found that economic problems, affordable housing, an increase in wages, and healthcare are all topics that voters are concerned about.
Decreased violence in Black neighborhoods is also a key concern. Survey participants are looking to leaders to stop the senseless killing of unarmed Black people and the use of excessive force. In addition, voters are seeking attention on how to stop white supremacist violence, crimes against all women, and gun violence.
