Political | Process

Polling in November found that a significant number of black voters in important states would vote for former President Donald Trump over Biden in 2024

Many black voters have noted in polls and Democratic focus groups that they feel disengaged with the voting process. This comes on top of Democratic allies growing concerned that Biden may be losing his grip on the black voting bloc that helped his narrow victories in key battleground states in 2020. 

Biden is heading to the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, the site of the 2015 mass shooting that killed six women and three men. By visiting with survivors and families of the shooting victims, Biden is hoping to win back black support in a place he says stands testament to the danger of rising extremism that his presidency can prevent.

A Biden campaign official told CNN that the president “will remind the American people that the same hate that plagued the Mother Emanuel Church years ago hasn’t gone away — and it is incumbent on our elected officials to do their part in rooting out hate, extremism, and division in our country.”

Biden’s campaign worked overtime to target black and Latino voting populations early on in the election cycle, investing in voter registration, outreach, and advertising. But Democratic allies and strategists are worried that Biden could ultimately lose his reelection bid if black people keep trending away from Biden.

Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) said on Sunday that he is “very concerned” about Biden’s ability to garner support from black voters, stating that the president has a messaging problem.

“I have no problem with the Biden administration and what it has done, my problem is we have not been able to break through that MAGA wall in order to get to people exactly what this president has done,” Clyburn said. 

Black voters are historically a reliable ally of the Democrats, particularly for Biden. In 2020, Biden garnered 92% of votes from black people. Trump received 8% of the black vote in 2020 and 6% in 2016, according to the Pew Research Center. 

Now, only 50% of black voters approve of Biden, down from 86% in 2021, according to PBS. In six of the most important battleground states this cycle — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — 22% of black voters would place a ballot for Trump over Biden.