Joe Biden launches fresh bid to win over Black voters amid dwindling support ahead of presidential elections

The United States President and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, on Friday (May 17) launched a fresh bid to win over Black voters amid dwindling support months ahead of the presidential election. This also comes as a recent poll found Biden’s predecessor and rival in the upcoming election Donald Trump is becoming popular among Black voters.

‘Black history is American history’

In a speech at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in downtown Washington, Bidengreeted his audience by declaring, “Black history is American history.”

He also went on to slam Trump and called him “extreme” and claimed that his allies were trying to “erase history.”

WATCH |Biden continues outreach to black voters amid slipping support

“My predecessor and his extreme MAGA friends are now going after diversity, equity and inclusion all across America,” said the incumbent president referring to Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ slogan and movement.He added, “They want a country for some, not for all.”

Later in the day, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were scheduled to meet privately at the White House with the “Divine Nine,” a group of historically Black sororities and fraternities.

Notably, Harris was a part of one of the sororities named Alpha Kappa Alpha, when she attended Howard University.

The speech and meetings were a part of a series of events which took place over the week marking the 70th anniversary of a US Supreme Court ruling that ended racial segregation in schools. However, they are also seen as a way to garner support from Black voters.

On Sunday (May 19), Biden is also scheduled to address graduating students at the historically Black Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia where one of the most prominent leaders in American civil rights, Martin Luther King Jr, studied.

“We are meeting Black voters where they are,” Trey Baker, senior advisor to the Biden campaign, in an email, as quoted by AFP.

Baker also said Biden is not taking a single voter for granted. “We are not, and will not, parachute into these communities at the last minute, expecting their vote,” he said, as per Reuters.

He added, “Every day, from now until election day, we will continue working diligently to ensure that come November, Black voters send Joe Biden and Kamala Harris back to the White House to continue delivering for Black America in unprecedented ways.”

Dwindling support

Earlier this week, a poll conducted by The New York Times, Siena College and The Philadelphia Inquirer found that Biden is losing support among young, Black and Hispanic voters, who are typically the foundation of any Democratic path to the presidency.

On the other hand, Trump, according to the same poll, has won 20 per cent of the Black vote, which indicates that he has found a way to garner support from voters who have overwhelmingly voted for Democrats year after year.

It is also worth noting that with 20 per cent backing, the former president has the highest level of Black support for any Republican presidential candidate since the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

(With inputs from agencies)