A focus group of Black male voters criticized the Democratic Party for their messaging to their community, with one participant calling it “pandering.”
The New York Times interviewed 11 Black men to share their thoughts about the upcoming election and the current political climate. The participants were asked what the Democratic Party understands least about Black men in the United States.
“It’s the pandering to the Black race, thinking that we are looking for a handout and feeling sorry for us, when we’re capable and culpable,” J.D., a 50-year-old coach based in Arizona told the Times. “And I feel like the pandering of ‘all you broken-down people, you need us, and here we are; we’re going to help you’ — it’s not a respectful tone or manner. It’s insulting, actually.”
President Biden and former President Trump. ( Win McNamee/Getty Images/Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
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“I think they’re confused,” Khaled, a 50-year-old school principal in Pennsylvania said. “I think they went so far to try to do so many different things, and now there’s more of an independent thought with Black men in this country.”
A USA Today/Suffolk University poll released in June found that support for Biden among Black voters has dropped roughly 20 percentage points since the last election in both Michigan and Pennsylvania. In Michigan, the poll found Trump has 15% of Black voters, compared to Biden at 54% of the support from Black voters.
Trump received 9% of the Black vote in Michigan in the 2020 election.
The former president gets 11% of the Black vote in Pennsylvania, according to the poll, which is up three points compared to 2020. A majority, 56%, of Black voters still prefer Biden in the state.
Another member of the focus group mentioned the victimhood that many assume Black American men carry.
“The assumption that every Black male youth is an automatic victim due to either systemic racism or factors outside of their control,” Jeremy, a 34-year-old microbioligist from Georgia, said.
Statues of a Democratic donkey and Republican elephant in front of Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C. (Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Rashad, a graphic designer based in Pennsylvania, said that Democrats “underestimated how much Black men care about their family.”
“We don’t want excuses as much as they think we want excuses. We want people to get out and work and do certain things. The value of the Black man in the household, when it comes to what our value is and how much we think we’re needed, I think that’s undervalued.”
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The focus group was also asked what Republicans understood least about Black men.
Marion from Georgia said that Republicans don’t see the struggle minorities have in the United States.
“Us as minorities, it’s hard in society just basically coming up in general. We’ve been fighting for rights for years. And I don’t feel as though they see that,” Marlon, a 47-year-old florist from Georgia, said.
Dylan, a program manager, said that Republicans understand “opportunity” least in regard to Black men.
The elephant, a symbol of the Republican Party, on in a rug in the lobby of the Republican Party’s headquarters in Washington. (Brooks Kraft LLC/Corbis via Getty Images)
“I would say opportunity. They have this mind-set of up by the bootstraps. And that’s definitely true in some ways. We can make things happen for ourselves. But I have a lot of friends that were born with a house already,” the 31-year-old said. “They didn’t have to do anything, and they already have a house. That doesn’t happen in our world a lot.”
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The Times focus group was conducted prior to the assassination attempt on Trump.
Fox News’ Hannah Panreck contributed to this report.