Trump Courts African-American Voters

The 2020 election is a year ahead from now and during the recent sub-urb elections, the Democrats showed their dominance in states of Virginia, Philadelphia, and Mississippi. Because of these results, Republicans, especially President Donald Trump, is alarmed as to what lies ahead in the future for his Presidential reelection bid.

On Friday, President Donald Trump launched "Black Voices for Trump" coalition. It can be remembered that for the past weeks, Trump launched different coalitions to support his 2020 election bid such as Latinos for Trump, Women for Trump, Workers for Trump, and Veterans for Trump.

The African American voters is the second largest minority group that is composed of more or less 30 million registered and eligible voters. They are after the Latino and Hispanic voters that is composed of 32 million eligible voters.

In a report from ABC News, Trump told the black audience during his launch of the coalition that with the help of the African American voters they will travel across the country and will reach every last African-American voters in 2020 most especially in the urban, rural, and sub-urban areas. Trump also touted that his administration has done a lot for the African-American residents in the U.S. by creating 6.7 million jobs. He added that unemployment rate among the blacks has reached its lowest level and it is very historical in U.S.

In a report from the CBS News, in 2016 only 6 percent of the blacks voted for Trump but in the recent Quinnipiac poll only 10 percent of the blacks has his support. Trump told the blacks that the Democrats only want their votes every four years and that they did not fight for the African-American community.

Moreover, Trump brought with him his favorite line during the 2016 elections by asking the black audience "What do you have to lose" by voting him. It is very important for Trump to get the votes of the Blacks because the President is facing an impeachment where he said that the Democrats are spending too much time in the impeachment inquiry instead of passing legislations that would help every citizen in the country. The impeachment inquiry might affect his reelection bid most especially supports from the minority groups.

Likewise, Trump called himself on Friday as the greatest champion for the African-Americans. Katrina Pierson, Trump's campaign senior adviser, said in a statement that the support of the Black Americans will give an assurance to Trump for a second term. But politically, Trump struggled to convert his commitments among the blacks and the minority groups.

In 2017, Trump made a remarkable remark during a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia when he said that there are fine people on both sides. However, he made a disparaging comment about immigrants from Haiti, Africa and by saying other "s*** hole" countries in 2018.

A political expert said that Trump's effort courting the votes of the blacks might fall short due his rhetoric attacks with the minorities that even led to some hate crime attacks. Andra Gillespie, a political science professor at Emory University, said that the majority of the African-American voters will vote the immigrants this is because there seemed to be a lot of animus directed towards former President Obama who is beloved by the black community.

In the recent Washington Post Poll, only 10 percent of the blacks approved the performance of Trump and his support from the blacks continues to be thin.

Read more: Trump courts 2020 African American vote at 'Black Voices for Trump' launch and Trump claims black voters are coming back to the Republican Party in "record numbers"