CNN national politics correspondent Eva McKend said on Friday that she can say for a fact that Democrats are concerned about former President Donald Trump gaining black voters.
Trump has cut his deficit with President Joe Biden among black Americans, with the current president leading the former president 70% to 18%, a May New York Times/Siena College poll found. McKend on “Inside Politics” said she doesn’t completely buy that Trump is going to make huge progress with these voters, but that Democrats are definitely “worried” about the possibility.
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“Republicans are really confident that this will be the cycle,” McKend said in response to a question from host Manu Raju about Trump taking black voters from Biden. “But I am skeptical because Republicans have said that for several cycles, that this is going to be the time when they’re going to have a deep inroads with black voters.”
“They do see his style of toughness, his brand of masculinity as appealing to some black voters, he has black surrogates in different communities talking to small black business owners about capital. And they’re confident in this strategy that they are employing. Black men are very much seen as a swing voter, I think, in this cycle,” she continued. “A group that both parties are really trying to appeal to and Democrats, I can say with certainty, are worried.”
CNN’s John King said Thursday that Biden has many more “cracks” in his coalition than Trump, including black voters, complicating the president’s reelection effort.
“The Democrat coalition is more complicated because it has more pieces, right? You have the black turnout, you have the Latino turnout,” King said. “You got to keep your share of the blue collar voters. The younger voters have been key to the Democrats in the last few election cycles. And they’re really mad at the president right now, especially over Israel-Hamas.”
“Trump’s biggest problems is Haley voters, people who are Republicans by DNA, who probably voted for him in 2016,” King continued. “A lot of them went to Biden in 2020. They don’t like either one of them … That’s a singular problem to solve. It’s a big problem … but it’s one thing and they’re DNA Republicans. Biden has a lot more complicated little pieces. It’s tougher.”
Democratic strategist James Carville and television personality Donny Deutsch also sounded the alarm in a podcast episode aired on Thursday about “Hispanic males” abandoning the Democratic Party.
“We’re gonna lose Hispanic males,” Carville said. “We’re gonna fuckin’ lose ’em.”