“Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd on Tuesday reported that both presidential campaigns have told him that “Donald Trump could overperform with African American men,” adding that the possibility of the president overperforming with Black voters is a “concern” in former Vice President Joe Biden’s camp.
The reporting comes as the Republican National Convention has featured a number of high-profile Black speakers in the first two nights of the four-night event.
Former Heisman Trophy winner and NFL star Herschel Walker, congressional candidate Kim Klacik (R-Md.), Georgia General Assembly Democrat Vernon Jones and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who is seen as a potential 2024 presidential candidate, have all sought to boost President Trump’s reelection bid.
“Both campaigns tell me that there is a chance that Donald Trump could overperform with African American men,” Todd said. “It’s a concern of the Biden campaign and it’s a focus of the Trump campaign.”
“The president has been stoking racial tensions,” Todd later argued. “They have been trying to do this, because they see this as a way back with suburban voters.”
Trump won 8 percent of the Black vote in 2016, a slight improvement over Republican nominee Mitt Romney’s 6 percent in 2012. Trump also captured 29 percent of the Hispanic vote compared to Romney’s 27 percent.
A recent Pew Research poll shows Biden leading Trump among Black voters, 89 percent to 8 percent.
Trump regularly touted Black unemployment hitting its lowest percentage in history before the coronavirus pandemic hit in March.
The Black unemployment rate was 5.8 percent in February 2020 but currently stands at 14.6 percent, with jobs numbers for August coming on Sept 5.