Biden’s Re-election Announcement to Test Resolve of Black Voters

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By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia

Published: 24 April 2023

The news that President Joe Biden will seek re-election has many curious about how well he will perform among African American voters.

According to the results of a recent poll conducted by TheGrio and KFF, black people had a positive opinion of both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

There remains some debate among Black Americans about whether or not they will support Biden for president in 2024.

Ready for new leadership

According to the results of the poll of one thousand Black voters who were registered between August 24, 2022, and September 5, 2022, 69% of respondents were pleased with Biden’s performance.

When asked whether the Democrats should select someone other than Biden in the next presidential election, 58% of Black voters answered that they would rather see another candidate run than Biden.

Additionally, the results of the survey suggested that an astounding seventy percent of Black voters would cast their ballots for Harris if she were to run for president, revealing the possibility that African Americans would offer more support to Harris than Biden.

Further, there remains a greater degree of disagreement among Black voters who identify as Democrats or who lean toward the party.

The poll reveals a consensus among respondents (49%) that the party ought to put forward Biden as its candidate for another term.

The remaining half of voters have indicated that they would want the Democrats to select a different candidate for president in 2024. Even among Black voters, there’s a wide range of viewpoints about the question of whether Biden should be the nominee.

Those under the age of 50 and those who lean Democratic are more likely to seek a different candidate than those over the age of 50 who want Biden to run for a second term.

This is especially true of Black Democrats.

Fifty-seven percent of Black Democrats and Democrats-at-heart aged 50 and over want Biden as the nominee, however only 42% of all Democrats and Democrats-at-heart want the party to choose someone else.

Meanwhile, the Republican Party has struggled to win Black voters, and the poll shows that this pattern hasn’t changed.

Alienating the Black community

The anger and obstruction that Republicans have shown toward Barack Obama throughout the years, in addition to their resistance to a voting rights law in Congress, make gaining the Black vote an uphill battle for the GOP.

By identifying themselves with Christian nationalists and organizations with roots to white supremacy, some Republicans have made it impossible to gain the support of Black voters.

The track record that Biden has on racial issues has also been debated in the Black community.

His efforts to pass a comprehensive voting rights package and reduce gun violence have been unsuccessful, but he has honored campaign vows to select a Black woman as his vice president and appoint one to the Supreme Court.

Additionally, Biden has fulfilled his promise to appoint a Black woman to the Supreme Court.

Biden also must overcome the problems caused by some of his supporters privately and publicly bashing Harris, an issue that has alienated some Black voters.

Four years after announcing his campaign for the 2020 election that finally resulted in the defeat of the criminally indicted and twice-impeached Donald Trump, Biden again seeks to beat back a run by the MAGA leader.

Re-election announcement

Reportedly, Biden’s most prominent supporters have been invited to a financial summit in Washington, D.C, in the days running up to his planned announcement, which has kicked off a wild race to stock the president’s war chest.

The meeting, planned for Friday, is viewed as an important first step in a campaign that is going to try its best to fly under the radar for at least one year.

After that, Biden expects to start the process of hiring a team that will be able to function independently of the White House.

The team will include a campaign manager, communication assistants, state campaign directors, pollsters, finance managers, volunteers, and others.

According to reports, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, a top White House adviser and the granddaughter of the late American labor leader Cesar Chavez, is in the running to oversee the re-election campaign.

Chavez counted as a prominent figure in the labor movement in the United States.