‘Her biggest vulnerability’: Why is Kamala Harris struggling with minority voters?
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Could Kamala Harris’ failure to win over young black and latino men swing the incredibly tight polls in the presidential race?
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Read time: 3 minutes
In brief…
- Polls show Kamala Harris is finding it difficult to appeal to young black male and latino voters.
- The News Agents speak to Latino political analyst Luis Sanchez, who says Trump’s messages are resonating with this demographic.
- This is currently the biggest vulnerability for the Harris campaign, say The News Agents.
What’s the story?
It’s time to talk about race… in the presidential race.
In previous elections, Democratic Party nominees could be pretty confident the vast majority of Black and Latino voters had their backs.
“It was something like 95% of African Americans voting Democrat,” Jon says on a recent episode of The News Agents.
But this election, Donald Trump is making serious inroads into the young black and Latino male populations, improving on his gains made in 2016 and 2020.
Meanwhile, Kamala Harris “has made it very clear that she recognises she is not doing as well right now in getting black men to vote for her as her predecessor, Joe Biden, did in 2020”, says Emily.
So is Harris doing enough to win over this demographic?
And if she can’t, could that swing the incredibly close battle on 5 November in Trump’s favour?
How is Kamala Harris trying to appeal to young black male voters?
This week, Harris’ announced a plan to give more economic opportunities to young black men.
It includes providing loans to Black entrepreneurs, creating more apprenticeships and studying sickle cell and other diseases that disproportionately affect this demographic.
She has also brought a familiar face with her on the campaign trail who was famously incredibly successful with black voters - Barack Obama.
“He is bringing in big crowds in many of those swing states, and he said earlier this week that some black men aren't feeling the idea of having a woman as president,” Emily says.
Harris also appeared in an interview with Charlamagne tha God, a podcast host who is popular with young black Americans.
But will this be enough?
Can she win over Latino voters?
Getting young black men on side is just half of the battle.
Another demographic Harris is finding it particularly difficult to attract right now are young latino voters, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll.
Wisconsin-based Latino political analyst Luis Sanchez tells The News Agents: “This shows there's part of Trump's messages resonating.
“In America, we have this racial binary, where it's whites at the top, black people at the bottom, and everyone else somewhere in the middle.
“I think what we're seeing is that Latinos, instead of trying to tear this down, are realising that they can get ahead by trying to be part of the group at the top.”
Sanchez says this is partly due to religious reasons linked to abortion, or economic reasons.
He adds that some young people might be more inclined to vote Trump over Harris as “this is all they've known, because for the past 10 years Trump has been normal in American politics”
What’s The News Agents take?
“Kamala Harris is doing okay, but she has not got that coalition of support that her predecessors did,” says Jon.
“This is a demographic that could slip away in significant enough numbers that it cost them in states like Georgia and some of the industrial northeast states.”
Emily says that one thing the Democrats learned with Hillary Clinton was “not everyone wants to vote according to their gender or ethnicity pigeonhole.”
Not only is Harris less popular with these groups than some of the Democrats that came before her, but they're even more attracted to Trump compared with previous years.
Jon adds: “For all that Trump has said openly racist things about black jobs, about immigrants being thieves and rapists, actually a lot of what he's saying is connecting.
“I think that is the greatest vulnerability right now for Kamala Harris in her campaign.”
Listen in full on The News Agents USA.
