The Pivotal Black Vote

Credit Image: Alisdare Hickson / Wikimedia

Some polls in recent weeks have provided an encouraging picture for President Donald Trump of strengthening support among black voters.

I like these kinds of reports. But I wonder how much of reality they are really capturing.

The Wall Street Journal, for instance, reports on new polling from the Kaiser Family Foundation showing outsize support from blacks for “Medicare for All.”

According to this report, 74% percent of blacks compared with 69% of Hispanics and 44% of whites support a single-payer health care plan.

Even when told that there would be a high likelihood that such a plan would mean eliminating private insurance and raising taxes, a large majority of blacks still support the idea.

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Additional recent polling from The Economist/YouGov on Dec. 1-3 gives more reasons to question that there are seismic changes taking place in black political attitudes.

The pollsters asked, “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”

Among all respondents, 46% said that they are better off now, and 32% said they were better off four years ago.

However, among blacks, only 30% said they are better off now, and 42% said they were better off four years ago.

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Hispanics also do not seem to be swept away by the good economic news. Despite Hispanic unemployment now at 4.2%, 2.2 percentage points less than it was four years ago, only 37% say they feel better off now, and 39% say they were better off four years ago.

In contrast, 50% of whites say they are better off today, and only 29% say they were better off four years ago.

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And 73% of blacks compared with 45% of the population at large say the House should impeach President Trump.

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Republicans should wake up to the fact that very good economic news that positively impacts all Americans does not seem to be moving black and Hispanics voters to a more positive attitude toward President Trump.

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