Former President Donald Trump seems to be gaining support from the Black community in Georgia, a key battleground state that President Joe Biden barely won in the 2020 election. A recent Atlanta Journal-Constitution survey revealed that only 77% of black voters said they support Vice President Kamala Harris in the state, while Trump holds nine percent, and 12 percent remain undecided. This is a significant decrease from the usual Democrat support received in the state.
The trend suggests that some members of the Black community are moving away from the Democratic Party. From 2018 to 2022, the Republican share of the black vote has increased from nine percent to thirteen percent. Nationwide polling also shows that Harris has about 12-15 percent less black voter support than Biden received in the 2020 election.
Some Black voters who supported Trump believe he is a man of his word and have noticed increased prices for goods and services since the Biden-Harris administration took office. Arthur Beauford, a 28-year-old from Marietta near Atlanta, is voting for Trump, although some of his family will remain in favor of Harris, who is running on the Democratic ticket.
Kamala Harris’s campaign has responded to Trump’s growing support by rolling out an “Agenda for Black Men,” which includes legalizing marijuana, a new loan program, preferred banking options for entrepreneurs, preferred apprenticeship and mentorship programs, and preferred expanded health screenings. However, this agenda has been repurposed to no longer exclusively target the black community.
As Trump gains support among the Black community in Georgia, the Harris campaign has enlisted former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama to campaign for the vice president. Despite these efforts, some black voters express frustration with the Democratic Party’s perceived lack of commitment to their concerns.