Harris on the African American vote: I ‘have to earn the support’

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) acknowledged Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” that she has to “earn the support” of black voters.

“Everyone has to earn the vote of every person,” she told Mitchell.

“I have never and never would take for granted that because of my gender or my race, that people will naturally come to me.” she added. “You have to earn the support.”

Harris is one of three Black lawmakers in the Democratic primary race, with Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.

According to RealClearPolitic’s average of polls, Harris is polling at 4 percent better than Booker and Patrick. However, Harris has struggled to gain traction with black voters around the country.

In a recent Economist/YouGoV national poll, 21 percent of black voters thought of Harris as “highly favorable,” which was behind former Vice President Joe Biden (35 percent) and Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) (32 percent) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) (30 percent).

Forty-seven percent of black voters said Biden was their first choice and 12 percent said both Warren and Sanders. Only 4 percent said Harris.