Since Wanda Mosley mobilized thousands of Black voters in Georgia, a battleground state, to assist U.S. President Joe Biden win the 2020 general election, a lot has changed. Although they were eager to cast their ballots, some Black voters are now disappointed by the rise in living expenses and the lack of progress on racial justice issues that they believe Biden’s Democrats have made, according to surveys and interviews.
/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/CO7FNJRAOVKL5DEZFBAMBG7KYE.jpg)
Large-scale voter mobilizations supported by Black activists and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams helped Democrats win the Senate and the state for Biden in 2020.
However, four years later, Black people throughout the country are beginning to doubt Democrats’ dedication to voting rights, addressing white supremacy, and other causes close to their hearts, making Biden’s support less secure. Black Americans’ opinions on Biden’s work in office are mixed, according to a January Pew Research Center study, with 49% of Black adults disapproving and 48% appraising his performance.
Ahead of Tuesday’s primaries, Biden and his opponent, Republican contender Donald Trump, both traveled to Georgia on Saturday in an attempt to influence voters. The outcome there may be a precursor of Biden’s difficult path to win over Black voters, who have traditionally been the Democratic Party’s most devoted voting group, before November’s general election. 92% of Black voters supported Biden, per Pew.
According to opinion surveys, Biden and Trump’s election on November 5th will be tight. As a result, Biden’s chances of winning will depend greatly on the participation of Black Americans, who make up a sizeable portion of the electorate in important battleground states including Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.
However, there are a few early indicators. In interviews with Reuters, almost a dozen voters, civil rights activists, and leaders stated that Biden’s campaign is not communicating with Black communities in Georgia, where 33% of the population is Black or other Black areas around the country.
In January, Biden made an appearance on civil rights activist Reverend Al Sharpton’s syndicated radio show. He promoted several policies, such as the removal of lead pipes and federal contracting guidelines, that aim to increase Black businesses’ access to contracting opportunities and address decades of low or reduced infrastructure investment in areas with high Black population densities.
Health remains the major agenda for Georgian voters
Black voters in Georgia are concerned about a wide range of topics. Among the few states with the worst Black maternal and newborn mortality rates in the country as Georgia has some of the poorest health outcomes for Black Americans. Access to healthcare is therefore very important.
Voting rights activists claim that voters in Georgia are also irritated by the lack of advancement in removing barriers to voting for African Americans and opposing attempts to redraw election boundaries in a way that would make it more difficult for their votes to be counted.
Republicans in Congress have mostly obstructed or restricted Democrats’ efforts on the subject throughout Biden’s term, including drafting of a comprehensive voting rights act to strengthen legal safeguards against discriminatory voting practices.
Mosley stated, “People are still irritated by that. They should have done what was necessary … whatever it would take to protect our voting rights.”
Worrying white supremacy for Black voters
Polls show that the growth in white nationalism and racist sentiment over the previous ten years has also severely worried Black voters; this threat was brought to light by the 2022 mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, where a white supremacist killed ten Black people. Three Black customers were slain by another last year at a Jacksonville, Florida, Dollar General store.
Executive director of BlackPAC, a left-leaning political action organization that mobilizes Black voters, Adrienne Shropshire stated, “People are still deeply unsettled by racism and the way that racism continues to show up and be so present for them.”
Indeed, several local activists claim that Biden’s circumstances are far from grave. The New Georgia Project, a nonpartisan voter registration initiative that helped Democrats win the state in 2020, was led by Nsé Ufot, a former CEO. She stated that although Biden’s campaign still needs to work, its aggressive outreach to Black voters is having an impact.
Comments 2