The Biden campaign is counting on Vice President Kamala Harris to salvage some of the president’s loss of support among Black voters with an initiative billed as the “Nationwide Economic Opportunity Tour.”
The idea, which entails Harris hosting private dinners with Black men in business, politics and culture to talk about their stories and learn how the administration’s policies can support the Black community, received criticism from some who speculate the move is “pandering,” including political strategist Scherie Murray.
“I think she’s pandering,” she said Thursday on “Fox & Friends First” about what have been dubbed “Extraordinary Gentlemen” dinners.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a “First In The Nation” campaign rally at South Carolina State University on February 02, 2024 in Orangeburg, South Carolina. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
“They’re not winning the Black vote. I think polls are showing that the Biden administration is slipping as it comes to the African-American vote across the country, so they’re trying to pull out all the stops to try to secure a voting bloc that they’ve long taken advantage of.”
Polls ahead of November’s election indicate a support shift among the key voting group, with former President Donald Trump siphoning a considerable percentage off Biden’s lead among Blacks.
A NY Times/Siena College poll from March, for instance, indicated Trump’s support among Black voters had risen to 23% as of February 2024, compared to the only 4% support one month before the 2020 election. A Wall Street Journal poll from April found that approximately 30% of Black men polled across seven swing states are backing the former president’s bid to return to the White House.
BIDEN CONTINUES BLEEDING SUPPORT FROM KEY VOTER GROUPS AS DEMS SOUND ALARM OVER 2024: POLL
U.S. President Joe Biden, on March 31, 2022. If numbers prove accurate, Biden’s loss of support among Black voters could have a significant impact on the election. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo)
At the same time, Biden’s support among Black voters has plummeted to 63%, according to a USA Today/Suffolk University poll released in January. It’s a 30-point decline from the 92% that Pew Research Center data shows he won in the 2020 presidential election.
Casey Quinlan, the economy reporter for States Newsroom, wrote a piece for the Georgia Recorder, saying that Black support for Biden may be souring in part due to the ailing economy.
Jamiel Shaw, who also appeared as a guest on “Fox & Friends First” on Thursday, highlighted a different issue – illegal immigration.
BLACK VOTERS REJECTING BIDEN AS SUPPORT DWINDLES AHEAD OF 2024: ‘EVERYTHING WAS BETTER’ UNDER TRUMP
VideoShaw lost his son in 2008 when he was gunned down by an illegal immigrant and later died after being transferred to an area hospital. He touched on that incident on-air.
“When my son was murdered, a lot of people were saying I was used by the White man, and I’m a racist, and all that kind of stuff. All of a sudden, now people understand what I was talking about… they see that the illegal aliens are getting everything. Black men are getting nothing,” he said.
“Black men are tired, he continued. “We want prosperity like everybody else. We see what’s going on.”
Meantime, Biden headed to San Francisco on Thursday for a fundraiser, with ticket prices for some attendees as high as $250,000.
VideoFox News’ Gabriel Hays and Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
Taylor Penley is an associate editor with Fox News.
