The GOP is leaning on Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) to help ramp up Black voter outreach ahead of November’s presidential election.
Scott, the only Black Republican in the upper chamber, announced this week that he will travel to battleground states in the coming weeks to speak with Black voters on why they should re-elect former President Donald Trump as part of an initiative with the Great Opportunity PAC.
“The growing opportunity that I see on why the African American vote and other minorities are coming to the GOP, in many ways, is the contrast to the Trump years and the success that we experienced in the Trump years and the challenges and the hurdles brought to specifically minority Americans because of Biden’s failures, from economics to the border to crime,” Scott said.
“Frankly, it’s not just racial, but it’s going to manifest itself in a racial shift that we haven’t seen in probably three decades of politics,” he added. “That’s because working class Americans are banding together and being fused together by the issues that they’re confronting on a daily basis, and those issues are more pronounced in the African American community.”
Scott and the GOP will be focusing intently on swinging Black male voters their way, hoping to build upon what appears to be increasing support with the demographic.
Though former President Obama won 93 percent of the Black vote in 2012, according to exit polling, Democrats have been steadily losing this support.
Exit polling from 2016 showed Trump received only 8 percent of Black voter support, but by 2020 that number rose to 12 percent.
But Black voters are a key demographic for Democrats, and despite what appears to be waning support in recent months, they remain overwhelmingly Democratic.
Data from Pew Research Center shows 83 percent of Black Americans lean Democratic, with 77 percent saying they would vote for Biden if the election were held today.
But Scott and Republicans seem undeterred by these numbers.
“I’ve been saying for a number of years here, it takes an insignificant shift,” said Scott. “You do not need a 30 point jump, you need a six point jump. If Black voters do two things – some stay home and some come to the right – there is no way to fill the hole. So the coalition that is necessary for the Democrats to have success, it’s not just Black and Hispanic voters. It’s specifically Black voters in the battleground states.”
Already, fewer Black Americans are certain they will vote in this year’s election than in the 2020 election, according to a new Washington Post/Ipsos survey.
Recently, Trump has been pushing to build Black voter support. In February, he spoke at the Black Conservative Federation’s annual gala and launched a sneaker line.
Late last month, he traveled to South Bronx, New York, where large numbers of Black and Hispanic voters showed up to hear him speak.
Trump has also indicated that he is considering several candidates of color, including Scott, to be a running mate.
But President Biden is also desperately working to court Black voters, especially as his approval rating among the demographic wanes.
Though he maintains a wide lead over Trump amongst Black voters, his 77 percent is a steep decline from the 92 percent who supported him over Trump in 2020.
The Biden-Harris re-election campaign has placed ads on Black radios and TV stations, highlighting the administration’s successes on things like funding for historically Black colleges and universities and student loan forgiveness.
They’ve also gone on the offensive against Trump and the Republicans, most recently singling out Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), another vice presidential contender, for comments that seemed to insinuate Black Americans were better off under Jim Crow.
It’s unclear how Trump’s recent convictions will affect voter outlook, though both Scott and Trump believe they will actually help.
“I honestly think that the decision on last week is actually helpful to driving more folks to the Republican Party,” said Scott. “There’s a reason why President Trump raised $200 million in a very short period of time. People are ticked off. There is something about injustice and a lack of fairness that is transparent.”
“The Black guys I’m talking to around South Carolina, specifically, are fed up with the justice system, so much so that I would suggest that the number today is closer to 50 percent … of African American men who are open [to the GOP].”
Black voters, in general, are strong supporters of things like criminal justice reform and police accountability, while a new survey has found that Black men overwhelmingly support legal abortion — all of which Republicans mostly stand against.
Many are becoming disillusioned with Democrats partly because of failed campaign promises, including passage of things like the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
But Scott said the GOP members do want to address jobs, the economy, education, and crime—they just haven’t had the best messaging.
“If someone is good at speaking into that microphone, we have a real strong opportunity to make this election, unlike the previous elections, and fortunately, President Trump has done a really good job of trying to figure out how to get in front of voters in unique ways and unique places that has not been done before,” said Scott.
“I’ve been talking about this for years, that we have to go where we’re not invited, and we have just not had enough candidates doing that from the party. And now we do.”