NAACP to spend $20 million mobilizing Black voters this fall

The NAACP plans to spend $20 million encouraging Black Americans, a critical voting bloc in the presidential race, to turn out to vote across 12 states this fall.

The investment, details of which were shared first with NBC News, includes $6 million in funds for local NAACP chapters and partners, $1 million for polling and research, and $1.4 million for texting outreach.

In seven key battleground states — Arizona, North Carolina, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Georgia — the NAACP will spend $3 million on radio ads in Black communities and $2 million on mailings aimed at pushing voters to the polls.

The NAACP’s campaign is not geared toward benefiting specific candidates, but rather is designed to broadly mobilize and educate Black voters ahead of the 2024 election.

Messaging will urge Black Americans to verify their voter registration, find their polling place, encourage them to vote early, and inform them on how to reach the NAACP if they experience intimidation or suppression at the polls. The group plans to engage more than 14.5 million Black voters.

“While the threats against our democracy are present and dangerous, our commitment to making our voices heard is unwavering,” Derrick Johnson, NAACP president and CEO, said in a statement. “Our most important Black job this November — for all of us — is showing up to the ballot box and making our voices heard. The only way to combat these radical extremists is with your vote.”

Black voters are expected to play a pivotal role in the race for the White House between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. While Black voters traditionally overwhelmingly support Democrats, the margin of victory and turnout levels among the group can make a major difference.

A new Howard University Initiative on Public Opinion poll of likely Black voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin found that 82% said they would vote for Harris, while 12% backed Trump.

By comparison, exit polls across those same states showed President Joe Biden won 89% of Black voters, compared with 9% for Trump.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com