Recent polling data from The Washington Post has shed light on the shifting political landscape among black voters in Ohio. A staggering 24 percent of black voters in the state have expressed favorability for former President Donald Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris in the upcoming 2024 presidential race. Furthermore, these same respondents have shown a preference for Senate candidate Bernie Moreno (R) over incumbent Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown (D.
While the majority of black voters still favor Democrats Harris and Brown, this poll is alarming for the Democratic Party. The significant 24 percent support for Republican candidates in Ohio is significantly higher than previous election years. For instance, exit polls from the 2020 election showed that only 8 percent of black voters supported Trump.
Darvio Morrow, an Ohio resident and co-host of The Outlaws Radio Show, commented on the poll results and their implications for future elections: “There’s also signs that it’s trickling down ballot, as Bernie Moreno is winning 24% of the Black vote in the WP poll (I am legitimately shocked at that. If Republicans capitalize on that and engage Black voters directly, it could be dangerous for the Democrats.
Morrow added, “The threat of an electoral wipeout would be very, very real. They simply cannot be a viable party in this state if they’re losing both the white working class and nearly a quarter of the Black vote.
Additionally, the Washington Post poll found that white Ohio voters favored Trump over Harris by ten points. In the Senate race, 49 percent of respondents supported Moreno over Brown (who is at 47 percent. The newspaper also highlighted Moreno’s strong stance on immigration as a key issue in the upcoming election, with 43 percent of registered voters believing he would be better suited to handle it than his opponent.
In an increasingly competitive political environment, these shifting trends among Ohio’s black voters could have significant implications for both parties and their chances of success in the 2024 election cycle.