The quiet part out loud: Obama brings Harris’ issues with Black men to forefront

WASHINGTON – Vice President Kamala Harris is hoping that when the most powerful Black man in America talks, other Black men will listen.

Harris needs all the votes she can get and former President Barack Obama has begun going all out targeting Black men, man to man, brother to brother.

While at a campaign office for Harris in Pittsburgh this month, he tapped into Democratic anxiety that enthusiasm among Black men has been lower for her than it was for him and could dampen turnout.

Obama then said the quiet part out loud, asking a group of “brothers” if they were planning to sit out the election. He suggested that misogyny was clouding their judgment and helping former President Donald Trump eat into a critical part of Harris’ base.

Harris “knows you” and “went to college” with you, Obama said. She is “putting forward concrete proposals to directly address” housing and prescription drug costs, protect health care and promote entrepreneurship.

“And you’re coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses,” he told them. “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.”

His comments accentuated voters and activists' concerns that she had not done enough since President Joe Biden dropped out to engage Black men.

Black men are a core constituency of the Democratic Party, and polls show them supporting Harris over Trump by and large.

But even a small erosion among Black men could be enough to shift the outcome in key battlegrounds, including Michigan, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

Harris ramped up her outreach to African American voters in those states over the last few days, and on Monday released an economic agenda for Black men that builds on years of work she did on the issue as vice president. The proposals included a pledge to legalize recreational marijuana use and provide $1 million worth of forgivable small business loans.

She also visited Black-owned businesses, including a coffee shop and record store, and held a series of conversations with African American men this week, as she ramped up her outreach. Saturday, she plans to hold a campaign rally in Atlanta with the singer Usher.

“What Obama did was something that was needed,” said Gregory Hannah-Jones, 38, a Harris supporter from Atlanta. He said it was a “jolt” for Black male voters. “VP Harris supplemented that.”

A long-recognized gap: Black male support

Harris has long tried to improve her standing with Black men. She held listening sessions that focused on entrepreneurship, disproportionately high interest rates for Black borrowers, housing affordability and criminal justice reform as vice president.

She launched an economic tour in Atlanta in April that was aimed at Black voters and made stops in Charlotte and Detroit. Harris returned to Atlanta in June to speak at the 100 Black Men of America’s annual conference.

“This was before there was…even a thought that she was going to be the presidential nominee,” Kevin Lewis, who was a senior adviser to Harris at the time, said in an interview.

The tour was relatively short lived. Biden debated Trump at the end of June and dropped his bid for the presidency in July. All of a sudden Harris had a Democratic National Convention acceptance speech to give, her own debate to prepare for, and an entire country to persuade she was ready to be commander in chief with less than three months until the start of early voting.

“We never pulled all the fruits off of that vine, either,” said entrepreneur John Hope Bryant, a bestselling author of financial literacy books who works closely with Harris’ office. “Because then the politics happened, and she was pulled into the role of running for president.”

Weeks into her campaign, Harris put forward economic proposals aimed at helping low-income and middle-class Americans and promising tax breaks for new parents, first-time homebuyers and small business owners.

But it wasn't until mid-October that she unveiled policies aimed specifically at Black men, 23% of whom said the economy was their top issue in a New York Times/Siena College poll of likely voters.

The Wire” actor Wendall Pierce, who has been fundraising for Harris and campaigned for her last month at a Milwaukee barbershop, said Harris would face complaints no matter what she does.

“There will be misogyny and racism. That's a part of this campaign, and you combat that with policy, getting out the vote and messaging,” he said.

Harris has since put forward a set of programs that include the expansion of apprenticeships and a health equity initiative that focuses on issues that disproportionately affect the Black community such as sickle cell disease and diabetes.

“I find that, like all voters, what have you done for me lately is the question,” said Pierce, whose critique of Obama’s direct approach with Black men went viral last week. The two men have since talked it out.

David Lawton, 42, a lifelong Democrat from Pontiac, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, who is living with multiple sclerosis, said he’s hopeful Harris will improve conditions for disabled Americans by lowering the cost of healthcare like she promised, but he isn’t convinced.

He voted for Biden and Harris four years ago and feels let down.

“I feel like she’s going to drop the ball,” Lawton said. “I hope she don’t.”

Lawton voted for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016 and said he’s voting for Harris over Trump now without much enthusiasm.

“It's the better of two evils,” Lawton said. “Both of them got jacked up track records, but one is pushing more against working people than he is against rich people. Trump ain't out to help us, he's out to help the rich.”

Trump lags but makes inroads

Harris’ support among Black voters and Black men specifically eclipses Trump’s: in the New York Times/Siena College poll this month, 78% of likely Black voters backed Harris, compared to 15% for Trump.

Among Black men alone, 70% said they would vote for Harris, while 20% picked Trump and 10% were undecided or declined to answer. Looking at those who were registered to vote, 17% said they were “not very” or “not at all likely” to vote this year in the poll.

Harris’ support is down from Biden’s, who in 2020 won 87% of Black male voters, after four years of Trump in the White House.

One of Trump’s strongest pulls on likely Black voters this year is among young Black men. Of those polled between the ages of 18 to 29, roughly one in five said they would vote for him. Trump's support was lowest among older Black voters: he had 15% support from Black men ages 30 to 44 years old, 14% from the 45-64 demographic and 13% among those over 65.

Trump has not released an agenda for Black Americans this election cycle. However, his campaign has made a concerted effort to chip away at Harris’ base.

He has touted historically low unemployment for Black Americans in his administration (a record that now belongs to Biden) and sent Black conservative surrogates, such as Reps. Byron Donalds of Florida and Wesley Hunt of Texas to campaign on his behalf.

“Kamala Harris is making a last-minute attempt to win over Black men after years of failure,” said Janiyah Thomas, Black media director for the Trump campaign, in a statement. “We’ve been working tirelessly to meet Black men where they are, to ensure they feel heard and valued. Whether it’s addressing concerns about inflation, job security, or safety, we are committed to continuing the work President Trump started."

Trump has repeatedly sought to stoke economic frustrations in his pitch to Black Americans. The approach has not always gone over well with those he’s trying to reach. He received heavy backlash for claiming in his debate with Biden that migrants were taking “Black jobs.”

At a rally in Atlanta on Tuesday, Trump chastised Black voters who are backing Harris.

“Any African American … that votes for Kamala, you got to have your head examined,” Trump told the crowd, “because they are really screwing you.”

Marshall Mitchell, a former chief of staff on Capitol Hill who’s now the pastor of Salem Baptist Church in Abington, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia, said Harris faces two opponents as she competes for African Americans support: Trump and the couch.

“Right now, couch is number one,” he said. “I think Harris' win is not about battling Trump, but it's about battling the couch and battling the natural intransigence of people who think politics doesn't matter in their lives, who are convinced that government doesn't make a difference in their day to day.”

Motivating those people is the homework, he said, in the final stretch of the race.

Terrance Woodbury, co-founder of HIT Strategies, a public opinion research firm hired by the Harris campaign, said polls and focus groups show some Black men are currently undecided because they don’t know enough about Harris and her platform.

“We're not doing damage control,’’ he said. “They don't dislike her. We’re just reintroducing them to her.”

Woodbury said there has been a softening of men of color toward Democrats since 2012 that Harris “has been very, very intentional about reversing.’’

“The number one reason why Republicans have been doing better is because they have started trying,’’ he said. “They haven't changed their policies. They haven't changed their message. They haven't changed their candidates. The only thing that has changed is that they are spending money.”

'They still haven't done enough'

Donald Brown, 35, an independent from Philadelphia who generally votes Democratic, said he thinks Harris will be better for Black men like himself. Still, he wishes Democrats would do more for communities of color.

“For as long as I can remember, the Democratic Party always invests in white middle America,” Brown said. “They focus on them way more than they actually should, and they neglect Black and brown communities.”

Brown says he’s voting for Harris begrudgingly. Her campaign has done a better job of reaching out to Black men he said than Biden’s did.

“They still haven't done enough,” Brown said.

Her problems with Black men are more pronounced in a few key swing states. In a USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll from August, just 63% of Black men in Pennsylvania said they were planning to vote for the vice president.

It would help if Harris were to visit Black churches in Philadelphia and Detroit, said Mitchell, who leads a congregation of roughly 2,800.

“She has got to use coded language with the Black church and the Black community right now to reassure them. It can't be about anti-Trump,” he said. “It has to be so much about where she is leading us, and the Black community will go along.”

Harris went to a Black church in Greenville, North Carolina, on Sunday and spoke about hurricane relief efforts, disinformation and her faith. It was the first time she’d been to one during her campaign. She'll be at another Black church this Sunday in Atlanta.

Tony Lee, pastor of Community of Hope AME Church in Suitland, Maryland, said the ramped up effort to reach out to Black men was “too little and too late.”

But he also said, “Democrats are making a mistake biting on the narrative so hard.”

Black men were disaffected before Harris replaced Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket and disappointed with the lack of action on criminal justice reform in the wake of George Floyd’s 2020 death, he said.

Lee, himself, said he’s “holding his nose’’ to support Harris, partly over frustrations with the Biden administration over human rights issues in Gaza. He said he was disappointed that a Palestinian representative wasn’t allowed to speak at the Democratic convention. Still, he said, he's working to get Harris elected in hopes that she can help end the conflict in the region.

Cliff Albright, a cofounder of Black Voters Matter, said the Harris campaign can still make inroads with Black men by talking more about policies that have helped, such as aid to Black farmers.

“You've got to talk to us where we're at about stuff we want to talk about," said Albright. “Has the Harris campaign been better about it than previous campaigns, without a doubt, but it's still not enough.”

Harris sought to do so in interviews this week with Roland Martin, “The Shade Room,” and Charlamagne tha God.

During a call for Black men on Monday evening, Harris’ principal deputy campaign manager, Quentin Fulks, pointed to the interviews and said, “It’s not a Black male problem. It is an opportunity for Black men in this country to be able to decide who the next President of the United States is going to be.”

Black men have to feel Harris’s plan “is achievable,” he added. “It can't be stuff that you don't intend to actualize on.”

Brown, the independent voter from Philadelphia, said Harris should be worried about even a handful of Black men pulling away from her campaign.

“She needs to be biting her fingernails until they count the last vote,” Brown said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Has Harris done enough to convince Black men to vote for her?