Clyburn downplays Biden losing support among Black voters

Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) downplayed President Biden’s loss of support among Black voters, saying that Biden’s win in South Carolina demonstrates that he still has a strong base among Black Americans.

“I think the answer is emphatic yes,” Clyburn said on CNN’s “State of the Union” when asked whether Biden has maintained a strong standing among Black voters based on the South Carolina primary on Saturday. “And the best illustration of that, he got 96 percent of the vote in this primary, but its largest percentage — over 97 percent — was in the town of Orangeburg where there are two HBCUs and a community college.”

“And he got the largest percentage of the whole state. So that demonstrates to me what I’ve been saying all the time and that Joe Biden has not lost any support among African Americans,” Clyburn continued.

Clyburn’s endorsement in the 2020 election helped deliver a win to Biden in the South Carolina primary and boosted the rest of his primary campaign. Biden’s win in South Carolina on Saturday comes after the Biden campaign sparked concerns that it is losing support among Black voters.

A November poll from The New York Times and Siena College found that 22 percent of Black voters in six battleground states said they would support former President Trump in next year’s election, which is the highest percentage a Republican presidential candidate has seen among Black voters in a half-century.

The same poll showed Biden with 71 percent of support among Black voters.

Updated at 9:45 pm.