Black male voters have surprising reaction during MSNBC roundtable when asked about community Trump support
A group of Black voters told MSNBC that they each personally know of at least one Black man that is committed to voting for former President Trump over Kamala Harris in November.
MSNBC legal analyst Charles Coleman conducted a roundtable discussion with four Black male voters ranging in age about the upcoming presidential election and how having Harris as the presumptive Democratic nominee has affected their vote in a network special that aired over the weekend.
"How many of you know a Black man who has expressed to you that they're committed to voting for Donald Trump?" Coleman asked in the MSNBC special, "Black Men in America: The Road to 2024" that aired Sunday on "Velshi."
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All four men raised their hands. "For the brothers who have told that to you, has the emergence of Kamala Harris changed that?" he asked.
"No," they replied unanimously.
One respondent said his friend was voting for Trump because of the "stimulus checks." Another said the Black men he knew that support the former president are doing so because they're concerned about "interest rates." They believe "Trump is going to lower the rates." The sentiment among that group is, "I just need that guy in there," he told Coleman.
Coleman told MSNBC host Alex Witt Sunday morning that his biggest takeaway from his discussions with the key voting bloc is that Black voters are "not a monolith."
"It’s an intergenerational conversation that I was able to have, really inviting a bunch of different perspectives about what the enthusiasm has been since Kamala Harris has entered the race for president, and then also for some people, how it hasn’t changed," he said.
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"I heard from young people who talked about their issues, not necessarily being wowed by the significance of Kamala Harris as a Black woman, because their frame of reference for the presidency is President Obama. So they've had a Black president," Coleman added.
He said some Black voters are feeling pressure to get behind Harris regardless of her platform or policies on issues that matter to them.
"One of the things that I learned was that there is a sense from some people to just get on the bandwagon regardless of what she is talking about because of the fact that she is a Black woman. I thought that was a very interesting dynamic," Coleman said.
In another segment of the MSNBC special, Coleman asked the same group of Black male voters if they feel a community obligation to support Harris at the top of the ticket.
"Rather significantly….we have already seen that push and that call for us to rally behind her," Corey Alexander, a teacher, responded. "She already had my vote... the Biden administration actually campaigned on forgiving student loans and they forgave my wife's – that was a direct benefit for me. So they had my vote solidified on that. But I do feel like the symbolism of the moment does urge us a little bit more even without hearing the platform to get behind her."
Curt Quillen, who works in financial management, said he feels like anyone who questions Harris' positions is made out to be a "villain."
"It is kind of doubled for me, personally, because it is kind of like you are almost a villain if you have a question. It is almost like, you are anti- something, because you are questioning something," he told Coleman. "Politically, because it is such a finite timetable of when you have to make a decision, it doesn’t leave room to have a real in-depth conversation. You are almost put in a place where you have to just say, come on, let’s go."
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MSNBC host Joy Reid recently said that Black people will look "real weird" and "real crazy" if they do not vote for Harris in November.
When asked whether they believed Harris could defeat Trump in November, three out of the four participants said yes. "I want her to, but I don't think so," the fourth replied.
The Democratic Party has enjoyed overwhelming support among Black voters for decades, but Trump is seemingly chipping away at the key demographic.
Biden won 87% of the Black vote in 2020, compared to Trump's 12%. But Biden's hold on Black and Hispanic voters was slipping prior to his announcement that he would no longer seek re-election.
Only 69% of Black voters in a Fox News Poll from early July — before Biden ended his campaign — said they would vote for Harris in a match-up with Trump. New surveys have shown Harris could improve on Biden's dwindling numbers with Black voters against Trump.
Fox News' Joshua Nelson contributed to this report.