Welcome again to another edition of the Hutchinson Report commentary. I'm Earl Ofari Hutchinson of the Hutchinson Report. Headline in my column in the wave newspaper this week, this week being the week of October 19, 2024. Countdown view the 2024 presidential election. Can black voters swing the election to Trump?
[00:00:27.09] - Speaker 1Let me let that sink in. Can black voters swing the election to Trump? Now, on the surface, it seems ridiculous. African Americans, historically, going back to FDR almost in the thirties, and certainly LBJ, have given the Democrats 85% to 90% of their vote, year in, year out, election in, election out. Why should this be any different?
[00:00:56.06] - Speaker 1Donald Trump, of all people, of all GOP presidential candidates, even the thought of having a significant percentage of african american voters vote for him is ridiculous. But it's not ridiculous enough that former President Obama actually hit the campaign trail shortly, a short period ago and said, and warned, really, african american men especially must get out to vote. There's been a little bit of fall off, a little bit of laggard. He's hearing things, in other words, that there may not be the enthusiasm for Vice President Harris that is required for victory. The second thing, a New York Times poll came out shockingly.
[00:01:42.05] - Speaker 1That showed, shocking to some, but not to me, that there has been a diminution in enthusiasm and support for the democratic party among many african american voters. Not 85 to 90, 95% anymore. The democratic vote. African Americans now down to actually under 80%, 78%. That could spell danger.
That's a red flag. All right, let's put them together. Obama, a warning that blacks must vote. There's been a little bit of apathy, been a little bit of laggardness there, enough for him to issue the warning. And then the New York Times poll.
[00:02:24.01] - Speaker 1All right, let's put them all together. Put both, both of these separate within 48 hours developments together. Do they spell danger? If true and if believable and if credible, the poll and then Obama's warning for vice President Harris. Yes, it does, and here's why.
[00:02:44.08] - Speaker 1The five or six swing states that will decide the election, a significant percentage of African Americans, make up the voting demographic in those states. It only takes a few thousand votes, as we've seen from prior elections, to swing a state toward one candidate or another. It's that close. It's razor thin. There's no margin for political error.
[00:03:08.04] - Speaker 1So now we come back to the african american vote. If there's any diminution, we saw that in 2016. Blacks, Hillary Clinton, not there. The apathy, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, cost of the election. Now we fast forward to eight years.
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