(WASHINGTON) — As the 2024 presidential race intensifies, both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are making their appeal to the growing Black and Hispanic voting blocs.
Hispanics and Latinos are growing at the second-fastest rate of any major racial and ethnic group in the U.S. electorate since the last presidential election, according to Pew Research Center.
They make up roughly 20% of the U.S. population and are projected to account for almost 15% of eligible voters in November, Pew’s research shows.
The Black community makes up almost 14% of the population, and is projected to account for 14% of eligible voters in November, Pew found.
A majority of both voter blocs voted in favor of Biden in 2020 – 92% of single-race Black, non-Hispanic voters and 59% of Hispanics and Latinos, according to Pew.
A majority of each voter bloc plans to vote for him again in 2024 – but the solid hold on the demographics are wavering.
Biden holds the lead with 49% of Hispanic and Latino voters against Trump’s 42%, according to an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll. Among Black voters, Biden holds the lead with 77% to Trump’s 17%.
A majority of white voters expect to vote for Trump according to the poll – with 53% in favor of the former president against Biden’s 39%.
This comes amid a growing national debate about race and diversity, with some conservatives aiming to remove diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in schools, the workplace and government who claim they promote racial division and unfair advantages for marginalized groups. Progressives, who aim to solidify these initiatives, say these programs aim to remedy longstanding forms of inequality and discrimination against such groups.
This escalating battle has sent Biden and Trump around the country courting Black and Hispanic voters on the issues of the economy, education, immigration and more.
The appeal to Black voters
Trump has recently attended events at Black Conservative Federation Gala in South Carolina, 180 Church in Michigan and New York City’s South Bronx to court Black voters and announce his “Black Americans for Trump” coalition.
Trump has centered his appeal to Black voters by equating his criminal prosecutions to the historic discrimination Black Americans have faced.
“I got indicted a second time and a third time and a fourth time and a lot of people said that that’s why the Black people like me because they have been hurt so badly and discriminated against. And they actually viewed me as I’m being discriminated against. It’s been pretty amazing,” Trump said in an appearance in the South Bronx, a predominantly Black and Hispanic community.
He continued, asserting that Black people are starting to vote for him because “what’s happening to me, happens to them.”
Trump campaign’s Black media director, Janiyah Thomas, told ABC’s Kyra Phillips that Black voters feel like they’re being taken for granted by the Democratic Party.
“President Trump’s resonating with more people because we’ve had a Black president, we’ve had a Black vice president, and a lot of Black people are saying they have nothing to show for it,” Thomas said.
At the annual NAACP National Convention on July 16, Biden zeroed-in on Trump’s efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and tax cuts for corporations and wealthier households. He also used the stage to highlight Trump’s past controversial comments on Black figures.
“Black voters haven’t forgotten that this man entered public life calling for the death penalty for the innocent Central Park 5 and entered political life spreading racist conspiracy theories about Barack Obama,” Biden said.
He continued, “We haven’t forgotten that Black unemployment and uninsured rates skyrocketed when Trump was in the White House. And we sure haven’t forgotten Trump repeatedly cozying up to white supremacists and demonizing Black communities to his political benefit – because that’s exactly what he’ll do if he wins a second term. Black voters sent Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to the White House in 2020, and they’re ready to make Donald Trump a two-time loser in 2024.”
Biden has since been targeting Trump on the issues that appear to ring the loudest among Black voters. Pew found that these issues are: improving the education system, strengthening the economy and ensuring the financial stability of Social Security.
“He left no room for us to do what we should be doing: investing in things that affect people’s lives, like child care, eldercare, and so much more that grow the economy and help people,” said Biden.
Trump has also repeatedly touted unfounded claims that undocumented immigrants are taking “Black jobs” and “Hispanic jobs.”
“You know who’s being hurt the most by millions of people pouring into our country? The Black population and the Hispanic population. Because they’re taking the jobs from our Black population, our Hispanic population. ” said Trump at the Republican National Convention. “By the way, you know who’s taking the jobs, the jobs that are created? 107% of those jobs are taken by illegal aliens.”
However, data does not show that immigrants — particularly undocumented immigrants — are taking over the job market. Pew found that 4.6% of U.S. workers in 2021 were unauthorized immigrants, virtually identical to the share in 2017.
It is also unclear what Trump means when referring to “Black” and “Hispanic” jobs.
The appeal to Hispanic voters
Biden has been traveling to states with large Hispanic populations, like Arizona and Nevada, to tout the lowest unemployment rates for Hispanics and the general population seen in decades, his efforts to reduce or cap costs for medication, and the rise in Hispanic entrepreneurship and business ownership under his administration.
He was scheduled to speak on a Spanish-language Univision radio show, as well as a conference for the nation’s largest Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization, UnidosUS, as well as speaking with local union leaders before he tested positive for COVID-19.
His recent slate of Hispanic-focused outreach comes amid the signing of a new executive order to increase funding to Hispanic-serving institutions to “increase Latinos’ access to educational opportunities,” according to a White House official.
The official also told ABC News that the Education Department has proposed a new rule Wednesday to expand federal programs to “help low-income Americans, and those who would be first in their families to go to college, seek higher education” — increasing access to as many as 50,000 people each year including DACA recipients, according to the official.
“Over the past three years, the administration has taken historic action to expand opportunity for Latino families and communities, including creating more than 15 million jobs – with 5 million created for Latinos, helping Latino entrepreneurs start new businesses at the fastest rate in over 10 years, working to ensure equitable educational opportunity for students, addressing our broken immigration system through new executive actions, and more.
Trump has also set his sights on Hispanics and Latinos, forming a “Latino Americans for Trump” coalition that consist of Latino leaders from across the country, including Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida.
“In 2020, we got more votes from Hispanic Americans than any Republican in more than 50 years, and we won the Texas border counties that no Republican candidate had won in more than a century!” the campaign release quoted Trump. “In 2024, we’re going to win an even larger share of the Hispanic American vote, setting all-time records for Republicans up and down the ballot.”
Trump has cited inflation, rising interest rates, and the lack of affordable housing as issues he plans to focus on to turn Latino voters. He’s also doubled down on strict and controversial immigration policies, including plans to deport “millions” as migrant encounters along the southwest border have reached an all-time high in recent months.
His campaign has also touted his criminal indictments, trials and impeachments as alleged “persecution” — aiming to connect with Latinos who may have faced hardships in their home countries.
“Just like the Cuban regime, the Biden regime is trying to put their political opponents in jail, shutting down free speech, taking bribes and kickbacks to enrich themselves,” Trump claimed without evidence at a November 2023 rally in Florida.
Trump has since been convicted of 34 felonies related to the New York hush money trial.
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