Historically, the bloc of black voters has been one of the Democratic Party's most loyal constituencies. But according to a Wall Street Journal poll released this month, President Joe Biden is losing support among black men in seven swing states.* While most black males still intend to vote Democrat, 30% said they were either "definitely" or "probably" going to vote for former President Donald Trump.
Since Trump received only 12% of the black male vote in 2020, it could have a significant impact on the 2024 presidential election if the polling translates into actual votes.
Terris Todd, an ordained minister, is a former Trump White House appointee to the U.S. Department of Education who now serves as an ambassador for the Project 21 Black Leadership Network. He confirms that people are seeing the paradigm shift.
"… I think one of the greatest things that this current administration could have handed to us was this open border, right?" he says to AFN. "Because with this open border and the influx of illegals coming into this country, mind you, black Americans … realized that resources were leaving them and being shifted to someone else.
"People are waking up and they're starting to see with this current administration [that] there's a whole another agenda at work – and it's not really for the American people."
Todd suggests voters across the country pay attention to what is going on in Chicago, which he says is a "strong indicator" of the pendulum shifting.
"Because when you get black American Chicagoans … coming out now and saying We've had enough, we will invite Trump here to actually speak to us, let's have a conversation now – I think we're headed in the right direction," he explains.
"I'm not saying that Trump is our savior, not like that," Todd continues, "but it's at least from a policy standpoint what's best for the American people. I think now we're seeing some light at the end of the tunnel – and that's a good thing because that's where we want to be in the first place."
In that same WSJ poll, 11% of black women said they were either definitely or probably going to vote for Trump this time around. That's up from 6% four years ago.
* Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin
Editor's note: Terris Todd is among six Republicans currently running for Congress to represent Virginia's 7th Congressional District. The Virginia GOP primary is June 18.
