African-American Struggles Show In Presidential Approval Ratings

Like most hard-working Americans, Willie Cousins is burning both ends of the candle to maintain housing, food and other necessities for his wife and two children.  In 2020, this lifelong resident of Illinois and his family voted for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. 

As has often been the case for African Americans, Cousins’ economic issues are inextricably tied to race. As an African-American man with African-American children residing in an African-American community, Cousins can’t detach his economic reality from racial inequities highlighted by the COVID-19 global pandemic. 

“For myself, my family and my community, economics is a racial issue,” said Cousins, 36. “COVID-19 has caused so much death and despair in our community and the pandemic is just the tip of the iceberg. For decades, we have suffered from the impact of predatory lending, gentrification and the loss of good jobs and opportunity in our communities.” 

These harms and more pushed Cousins and others like him to rally around then-candidate Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris during the 2020 election. Regrettably, for Cousins, optimism and hope have been replaced by feelings of neglect and bewilderment. 

“When it comes to the issues that I care about, like voting rights, police reform, and human infrastructure, President Biden is doing a poor job,” Cousins said. “Every day prices are getting higher and even though I have seen a small increase in my wages, I’m still having to pay more for the basic necessity to keep my family thriving.” 

According to HIT Strategies, a millennial and minority-owned public opinion firm, Black Americans’ net approval for President Biden stood at +76 percent in the summer and fell to +62 percent by October. While the number nudged up slightly to 66 percent in November, it remains 10 points lower than where it stood over the summer. The data was compiled as part of the polling firm’s BLACKtrack survey—a tool developed to document Black voters’ evolving opinions.  

According to HIT Strategies founding partner and CEO Terrance Woodbury,  the fall in Biden’s approval among American Africans seems based less on likability and more on messaging and authentic storytelling to a community that remains key to Democrats maintaining control during the Midterm elections. 

“When you ask African-Americans voters who are better at addressing economic inequities and helping working families, Democrats have an overwhelming advantage over their Republican counterparts,” said Woodbury, 34. “The real problem for Democrats isn’t governing. It’s a marketing problem. They aren’t telling their story well, and as a result, they are losing touch with their most loyal voting base.” 

A couple of weeks ago, President Biden signed a wide-ranging $1.2 trillion traditional infrastructure bill, which economists and business experts have estimated would create millions of jobs and provide well-needed investments in Black communities. Regrettably, this win has been overshadowed by the emergence of the Omicron COVID-19 variant and the continued intra-party feuding being led by Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ).

“The global pandemic should have made the disparities in this country clear to our elected officials,” said Cousins. “If this Congress doesn’t pass Biden’s Build Back Better Plan in the next two months, we are doomed because politicians will be more concerned with their re-election. And the people will be stuck trying to figure out how they are going to pay for childcare, which they can barely afford now.” 

Cousins continued, “Voters like me need to see and hear about real change from President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and other leaders on the issues we care about, or we will sit at home in the next election. How long is the African-American community expected to standby and wait?” 

Research about working-class African-American voters recently conducted by HIT Strategies, EquisLabs, and Democracy Corp for the American Federation of Teachers  uncovered feelings similar to what Cousins expressed. While 45 percent of African Americans believe that Democrats are better than Republicans on the economy, 15 percent believe neither party is good.  

“I’m always concerned when I see 15 percent of Black voters saying they don’t support either party on an issue as broad as the economy. These numbers immediately scream cynicism. And, cynicism is a leading indicator for lower-voter turnout, voter apathy and the potential for drop-off voters,” said Woodbury, pollster for the New Georgia Project. “Democrats have some work to do here. They start selling their economic agenda.” 

With the fight for more public school investments, student loan forgiveness, voting rights and criminal justice reform on the top of his list, Cousins is very anxious to hear the Democratic Party’s sales pitch to him and his community. 

“President Joe Biden needs to come and talk to the Black community and tell us what he is working on and how it will impact our families, neighborhoods and communities,” said Cousins. “We have endured a lot during this pandemic, and some of us are still trying to fight our way out. We want our elected leaders to understand that and fight with us, and sometimes it feels like they aren’t fighting hard enough.” 

As the co-pandemics of racial injustice and COVID-19 lay at the feet of Black America, the Democratic party has frequently wavered between fighting for racial equity and pushing forward on an economy-only message. Simmons, a longtime Democratic strategist and former 2008 Obama/Biden campaign advisor, said it’s an unnecessary

separation.

“There’s no reason for Democrats to put economic and social policy in different buckets. Building an America strong enough for all of us to benefit and not face discrimination means passing good economic policies, protecting voting rights and ensuring public safety by helping good police and stopping bad police,” said Simmons, a frequent television commentator. 

“Meanwhile Trump Republicans hide in the corner afraid to fix anything their extremist base might disagree with,” Simmons added. 

With 11 months before the midterm election, the Biden-Harris Administration has a tough road ahead as they work on fulfilling their plan for America. While there seems to be some slippage in their approval rating among Black voters, Cousins and Woodbury say there remains a lot of opportunities for Biden and Democrats to get it right.  

“My African-American family has been voting for the Democrat Party for as long as I can remember, and I want to continue that thread. I want to see the party engage in a more open conversation on race,” said Cousins. “Race plays a role in this country, it plays a role in our politics and unfortunately, it impacts our communities, and our bottom line and the party needs to be more vocal.” 

Woodbury echoed those sentiments. 

“The biggest takeaway from our research over the past couple of months is a simple one, Democrats to keep their Black voter enthusiasm will have to reject the false choice currently present,” he said. “As a party, they will have to address the economic priorities in a racial context, but not ignore the overwhelming anxiety that voters of color feel about issues like policing and criminal justice.” 

The millennial pollster emphasized the importance of Democrats walking and chewing gum at the same time. He said, “they’re going to have to fulfill the economic promise that they have made to Black America. But they’re also going to have to reduce the racial anxiety and tension that is being stoked right now, not in the last four or five years of Donald Trump, but currently today.” 

With so much at stake for working class African-American families now and in the upcoming election, the question remains if the Democrat Party will turn up the volume and listen to the kitchen table conversations taking place in Black households across America?