Harris Tries To Woo Black Male Voters, Who Are Still Playing Hard To Get

on Oct 17, 2024

SAN DIEGO -- A "man bites dog" story always gets the media's attention. When the unexpected happens, good journalists will be curious about why it happened and wonder what happens next.

That's why many of my colleagues in the Fourth Estate can't look away from a train wreck that a lot of Democrats would like to ignore: Kamala Harris' trouble winning over Black men.

With less than three weeks until the Nov. 5 election, the vice president's support from Black male voters is not where Democrats want, or need, it to be.

Face it, Kamala. A lot of Black men are just not into you.

Come to think of it, Harris' support from Black voters overall -- men and women -- is also weak for a Democrat running for president.

According to a new poll of likely Black voters by The New York Times and Siena College, Harris is getting just 78% of the Black vote and giving up 15% to Donald Trump. The remaining 7% are either voting third party or not planning to vote at all.

To put those numbers in perspective, think about how other Democrats performed with that demographic in recent elections -- and against the same opponent.

In 2016, Hillary Clinton got 92% of the Black vote and Trump got 7%. In 2020, Joe Biden got 90% and gave up 9% to Trump.

So the Democrat who is currently vying to become the nation's first Black woman president is doing worse with Black voters than the last two white Democrats who ran for president.

See what I mean? Man bites dog.

Within the voter subset of Black men, the outlook gets worse for Harris and better for Trump.

According to a survey last month by the NAACP, more than 1 in 4 Black men under 50 years old -- 26% -- said they support Trump, compared to 49% who back Harris. Oddly, the Democrat is doing better with men who are over the age of 50, earning about 66%.

That is a curious spin on the generation gap. The older the Black male voter, the more likely he is to vote for Harris. The younger he is, the more likely he is to support Trump.

Harris' defenders have blamed her trouble attracting support from Black male voters not on Harris but on the voters. It's all about sexism, they say. One radio ad targeting Black men even goes so far as to say that the way to "be a man" is to vote for a woman.

During a recent campaign stop in Pittsburgh, former President Barack Obama scolded Black men.

"You're thinking about sitting out or supporting somebody who has a history of denigrating you, because you think that's a sign of strength, because that's what being a man is?" Obama said. "Putting women down? That's not acceptable."

But the NAACP poll torpedoes the argument that this story is all about sexism. The stereotype is that older men have more chauvinistic views on gender equality, having come of age in eras when men pretty much ran everything -- as opposed to today when we just run most things. Conversely, you would think that younger men would be more progressive and more likely to embrace the idea of a woman president. Oddly enough, the opposite seems to be true.

There it is again. Man bites dog.

From what I've heard from Black men, there are various reasons why Harris isn't connecting. Some don't think she has -- in the nearly four decades since she graduated from Howard University, a historically Black university -- identified often as Black. Some are still holding a grudge over the fact that Harris got her start as a California prosecutor who locked up young Black men to curry favor with white voters. And others, looking back on Harris' 20 years of public service, can't name a single thing that she has ever done for Black people.

Lately, Harris tried to woo Black men by saying that she supports legalizing marijuana and offering Black entrepreneurs fully forgivable business loans.

Then things got weird. Speaking this week in Detroit to a small group of Black men, Harris tried to connect with an obscure reference.

"You may not know this, but you would appreciate this. I grow chili peppers," she said.

Hold the peppers, Madam Vice President. Put simply, a lot of Black men have never felt much love from you. And so now, they're reluctant to show you love where you need it most -- the ballot box.

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To find out more about Ruben Navarrette and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.