Black voters turned out in record numbers for President Donald Trump during the 2020 election, helping him secure 12% of the Black vote. According to an NBC News Exit Poll, this is the highest number of Black votes a Republican candidate has earned in the past 20 years.
Republican Bob Dole was the last Republican to attract a similar amount of support, netting 12% of the Black vote in 1996. Trump also received a boost from another unexpected group with 32% of the Hispanic vote. This is the highest level of Hispanic support a Republican candidate has gained since George W. Bush, who amassed 44% of their votes in 2004. Two-thirds of Hispanic voters identified the economy as their main reason for voting for Trump. Black and Latino men especially turned out in higher numbers than usual to show support for the president, NBC News reported.
According to CNN, Black voters, in general, turned out to the polls in high numbers this year, citing racial injustice and police brutality as their main concerns amid the ongoing cases of Black people dying at the hands of law enforcement. Speaking to CNN, Black voters also expressed concerns about the president failing to condemn white supremacy. In addition, the fear of losing health benefits has been a key issue as the pandemic continues to disproportionately impact Black communities.
Musa al-Gharbi, a sociology fellow at Columbia University, said there are still minority voters who don't see the president's controversial comments and policies as racist. In a column for NBC News, al-Gharbi cited a research study that surveyed white, Black and Hispanic voters to get their perspectives on certain messages considered to be coded white supremacy language.
"Across racial groups, most did not find the messages to be racist or offensive— despite researchers viewing these examples as clear-cut cases of racial dog whistles," al-Gharbi wrote.
The sociologist fellow also reviewed the numbers from the 2016 presidential election, concluding that Trump received a lower number of votes from white people than the previous Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney. However, the president received a higher share of Black and Hispanic voters compared to Romney.
"That is, it was minorities, not whites, who proved more decisive for Trump’s victory," al-Gharbi wrote.
As Blavity previously reported, Democratic California congresswoman Maxine Waters shamed Black Trump supporters last week when she appeared on Sirius XM’s The Joe Madison Show.
“Any of them showing their face, I will never ever forgive them for undermining the possibility to help their own people and their own communities,” Waters said.
Specifically targeting Black men, the congresswoman said they will go down in history as having done the most despicable thing to their families and communities if they vote for Trump.
“Black men who don’t understand, if they’re not listening to you, if they’re not listening to our voices, they have a price to pay,” Waters told Madison. "They will shamefully be accused of having attributed to the lack of equality life for the people they claim to love so much.”
Trump has publicly received support from Black celebrities such as Lil' Wayne and Kanye West. Other artists such as 50 Cent, Ice Cube and Lil' Pump have also leaned towards the president.
“They think somehow, if they are going to support Trump, that they’re gonna realize some big sums of money that’s gonna come to them through some damn proposals that they are going to present, and they’re going to be taken care of and they’re going to be able to manage all of this money. They are crazy,” Waters said about Black men. “They’re not going to get a dime from these people.”
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