Washington
CNN
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President Joe Biden is working this week to reverse declining support among Black voters, renewing his focus on a group he once again hopes could propel him to the White House as it did four years ago. .
The series of events, aimed at commemorating civil rights milestones and addressing the next generation of leaders at Martin Luther King Jr.’s alma mater, came as Black voters flocked to Biden and accused him of inaction on his top priorities. The event comes at a time when opinion polls show that the party is changing direction, frustrated by what it sees as a political party. His handling of the economy and the Israel-Hamas war solved this problem.
Commemorating the anniversary of the historic Brown v. Board of Education case that found laws promoting racial discrimination unconstitutional, Biden announced his commitment to promoting and advancing the historic gains made by Black communities over the past 70 years. I would like to once again express my determination.
And his speech Sunday at Atlanta’s Morehouse College, already controversial amid nationwide campus protests, uplifts the next generation of black men, the voters most likely to see Biden’s decline in support. The purpose is to
Since the days of the civil rights movement, Democratic presidential candidates have enjoyed broad support from black voters. But leaders of several black grassroots organizations have warned that the president should not take the support of black Americans for granted.
In the months leading up to November, Biden hopes to highlight his record and refresh all voters’ memories of what life was like under Trump.
“He has to answer two questions: Why bother going out and voting? What’s in it for me, the voters? It’s almost the same question as that.” “And he has to answer Janet Jackson’s test: ‘What have you done for me lately?'”
In a radio interview recorded on Tuesday, Biden urged Black voters to “remember who Trump is.”
“He falsely accused the Central Park Five,” Biden told Darian “Big Tigger” Morgan on V-103.3 in Atlanta. “He is the founder of birtherism and first tried to repeal Obamacare, but now he promises to do even more damage.”
For Biden, who aims to improve his ranking in the polls, it is extremely important to sharpen the contrast with Trump. Nowhere is this obligation more important than for Black Americans. Many polls find them the furthest away from Democrats they have been in decades.
Mr. Biden often mentions issues such as infrastructure investment and student loan cancellation when touting his record to black voters. He has also worked to loosen rules around marijuana, including the Justice Department’s formal start of the marijuana rescheduling process on Thursday.
But his campaign promises have fallen short on other issues, including pushing for sweeping legislation to protect voting rights.
Biden frequently raises issues such as infrastructure spending, federal marijuana amnesty and student loan cancellation, but has fallen short on campaign promises such as pushing for sweeping legislation to protect voting rights. There are other issues as well.
A poll of battleground states released this week by The New York Times and Siena College shows Trump winning more than 20% of black voters, a historic high for the November vote. Trump won 8% of black voters nationwide in 2020.
“There are people in the black community who feel like not much has changed,” Bernice King, the late civil rights leader’s daughter, told Bloomberg this week.
Black voters have historically been a strong part of Biden’s electorate, and the president has deep ties to the community. The president was inspired by the civil rights movement of the 1960s to run for political office and served as vice president to the country’s first black president. Those deep connections proved critical in propelling Biden to the White House in 2020, although he faced challenges throughout his decades-long career.
This deep relationship is certain to continue this year, especially in the president’s hopes of retaining his position in the White House, especially in battleground states like Georgia and Michigan, both states that Biden has on his travel itinerary in the coming days. will be important.
“I got involved in politics because of the African American community,” he told a predominantly black audience in Wisconsin earlier this month.
On Thursday, Biden met in the Oval Office with plaintiffs in a landmark Supreme Court case overturning racial discrimination in schools. On Friday, he will speak at the National Museum of African American History and Culture and meet with members of the Divine Nine, a collection of historic black fraternities and sororities.
After delivering the Morehouse commencement address in Atlanta on Sunday, he will head to Detroit to speak at the NAACP’s Fight for Freedom Dinner.
NAACP President Derrick Johnson spoke after Biden met with the plaintiffs in the Brown case (at which time the plaintiffs and their families asked the president to make the anniversary of the verdict a national holiday), and spoke to the Democratic Party. rejected polls showing declining support for the President among black voters.
“Over the last four election cycles, the polls have been proven false,” Johnson said. “What I am certain of is that we are on the brink of democracy. Will we create a functioning democracy that represents all of our people, or will we create something less? You have to decide.”
Biden, who was originally inspired to run in 2020 by the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville in 2017, has been hesitant to address America’s history of racism. He has been even clearer than previous presidents about how this country has failed its black people. barrack obama.
In his inaugural address in January 2021, Biden unequivocally condemned white supremacy and terrorism, while calling for mending the country’s deepening racial divisions.
“We are moved by the cry for racial justice that has been nearly 400 years in the making,” Biden said at his inauguration. “The dream of justice for all can no longer be deferred.”
And earlier this year, Biden made a pilgrimage to South Carolina. South Carolina is a state with a strong coalition of Black Democrats that helped propel Biden to the Democratic nomination and ultimately the presidency in 2020.
Speaking at Charleston’s Mother Emanuel AME Church, the site of a 2015 mass shooting by a white supremacist, Biden credited black South Carolinians, especially Jim Jim, for putting him in the White House. He credited Congressman Clyburn with that.
“I stand here today as president because of this congregation and the black community of South Carolina, and I’m not exaggerating because of Jim Clyburn. And I’m grateful for your trust. “We have done our best to respond,” he said.
In his speech, Biden called white supremacy “toxic.”
“Throughout our history, this country has been torn apart. This has no place in America. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever,” the president said.
But Biden’s traditional base of support among black voters hasn’t gone untested.
While running for president in 2020, Biden suggested in an interview with Charlamagne the God that black supporters who were trying to decide between him and Trump were “not black.” He later admitted that he should not have said such a thing.
In his bid for re-election, Mr. Biden has sought to highlight his accomplishments that have benefited black Americans. In a radio interview this week, Biden spoke about coronavirus vaccinations, $1,400 checks during the pandemic, increasing Black homeownership, efforts to combat racial bias in housing appraisals, efforts to strengthen Black small businesses, and HBCUs. He pointed out support, medical care and initiatives. Junk charges.
Trump and Biden “have a fundamentally different view of Americans than I do. And it’s all about hatred and retaliation,” he said of his predecessor.
Biden’s advisers are focusing on efforts in the coming months to remind voters of the Trump era, including appointing three justices to change the Supreme Court to a conservative majority, and what a second term will look like. It is argued that this is the key to the future.
“People may not believe it, but it is possible to redo the trial,” said Richmond, a former congressman and senior White House adviser. “Mr. Trump’s court will absolutely put Brown v. Board of Education back in the game. They might put Plessy v. Ferguson back in the game.”
Asked about voters’ lack of enthusiasm for the November election, Biden said many Americans were still not focused on voting and complained that “it’s hard to get legitimate information from news sources.” Ta.
But voters may soon become more interested. Biden and Trump are scheduled for the first debate of the 2024 election cycle next month.
CNN’s Betsy Klein contributed to this report.
