How does Kamala Harris plan to reclaim the roughly 5 percent of Black male voters who polls indicate are open to voting for Republican nominee Donald Trump and his platform built largely on white grievance?
Slinging pejoratives in their direction, as Sunny Hostin did last week on “The View,” is probably not the best way.
“You’ve got 53 percent of white women that voted for him in 2020,” Hostin said, describing who she sees as gettable votes. “We’ve got to reach those women.”
“We’ve got to reach those ridiculous, crazy Black men who did vote for Trump,” she continued. “We’ve got to reach the Cuban men in Miami who overwhelmingly vote for him.”
A particular stand out from Hostin’s comments was her lack of adjectives for both white women who have voted for Trump. According to a recent analysis by CNN, “working-class White women loom as a critical, potentially even decisive, factor in Trump’s third White House bid.” Yet, despite their political power and leverage, they were simply described as “white women.”
Cuban men were also spared Hostin’s verbal condemnation despite being the decisive factor when Trump secured Florida’s 29 electoral votes in 2020.
To some Black men, Hostin’s thinking fits a pattern they resent. Why is the outcome of this election put only on their shoulders?
“Sunny confirms what I always say about Democrats: White people are socially allowed a choice for who they vote for, but Black people aren’t. Listen to how she insults black men who voted for Trump but avoids smearing white women who voted for Trump,” wrote a user on X as the minute long clip made its way across social media.
Sunny confirms what I always say about Democrats:
— Adam B. Coleman, Le Based Black (@wrong_speak) October 14, 2024
White people are socially allowed a choice for who they vote for, but Black people aren't.
Listen to how she insults black men who voted for Trump but avoids smearing white women who voted for Trump.pic.twitter.com/e2cQ2pynJZ
Another user tweeted, “She and Obama have just gave “crazy black men” all the more reason to NOT vote for Kamala with these constant attacks on them. Why the hell are they doing this?”
“She avoids smearing Cuban men too,” noted another.
Then there’s also the implications, drawn by some attempting to explain why Black men are at least Trump-curious. Former President Barack Obama hinted strongly that misogyny was a key driver in the drift towards the Republican nominee.
“Part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that,” he said Thursday to Harris-Walz campaign volunteers and officials at a field office in Pittsburgh.
Obama said Black men need to be as enthused about voting for Harris as they were voting for him in 2008. A recent NAACP poll found one in four young Black men backed Trump heading into the election. If that polling is correct, Democrats are likely to lose the White House if they’re aren’t able to stem the loss.
“How about we ask why they might be less than enthusiastic in the first place?” Dr. Stacey Patton wrote in an op-ed. “Let’s be real: Black men have every reason to feel exhausted.”
“They’re fighting for their lives, literally and metaphorically, in a system stacked against them at every turn,” he continued. “If their energy feels low, maybe it’s because they’re tired of being kicked down every time they try to stand up.”
Still, there’s actually little difference between the level of support between Black men and women.
Khalil Thompson, co-founder and executive director of Win With Black Men, told The Associated Press he agreed with Obama’s larger point.
“I believe President Obama is speaking to a tangible, visceral understanding of what it means for all men to relate to women in America. Calling out misogyny is not wrong,” said Thompson, whose group raised more than $1.3 million for Harris from 20,000 Black men in the 24 hours after President Joe Biden dropped out.
