Updates to our Terms of Use

We are updating our Terms of Use. Please carefully review the updated Terms before proceeding to our website.

Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Study Finds Black Voters Propelled Blue Wave

Nearly half of African-American voters associated what they perceived as racist comments made by President Donald Trump with the GOP, according to an analysis released Monday, helping swell the Democratic blue wave that took the House this month.

(CN) – An overwhelming number of African-American voters associated what they perceived as racist comments made by President Donald Trump with the GOP, according to an analysis released Monday, helping swell the Democratic blue wave that took the House this month.

Across several groups of voters – including 9,400 black, Latino, Asian, white and Native Americans who were surveyed – most black men and women voted Democrat, about 90 percent of those polled in July and again on the eve of the midterm election.

According to the report from the NAACP, the African American Research Collaborative and the racial justice nonprofit Advancement Project, much of the support for Democrats from black voters was due to Trump’s comments about race, women and immigration.

Those voters tied Trump’s rhetoric to the Republican Party and Democrats were able to ride that rejection of Trump to a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives on Nov. 6.

More than eight in 10 black voters (89 percent of women and 83 percent of men) see Trump's statements and policies as setting back racial progress, according to the survey. Black voters also overwhelming viewed Trump and Republicans as using toxic rhetoric to sow division among Americans and normalize sexism and sexual harassment against women.

More black women agreed those claims, followed closely behind by black men, while less than half of white voters agreed with the same statements, the poll found.

Black voters said that the Democratic Party was doing a good job with regards to inclusivity. The number of voters who agreed with that view shot up just before Election Day.

Across the board, voters who were surveyed said they were angry with Trump, but more black voters said they felt disrespected over something he has done or said, and black women in particular.

That outrage also led 48 percent of black voters to say that Trump is a racist whose policies are intended to hurt blacks and other minorities, compared to 31 percent of white respondents.

Casting an even greater divide between white and black voters, about half of white voters said they think Trump has a positive impact on blacks, while only 8 percent of black voters said the same.

On issues like health care and creating jobs, white and black voters were nearly equally likely to say those are the most important issues facing their communities. But more black voters said income inequality and discrimination were important issues, while more white respondents said immigration reform should be a priority.

While Trump has received praise from vocal black supporters like rapper Kanye West, who visited the president at the White House in October, that apparently had a small impact on black voters overall. Black celebrities who support Trump do not sway black voters, with 55 percent saying such endorsements have no impact on their views of the president and his ideas.

Categories / Government, National, Politics

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Loading...