The black voting bloc long has been, essentially, the property of the Democratic Party. Few Republicans get endorsements from the community and presidential candidates seldom receive more than a single-digit percentage of the vote.
But a new study shows 29% of black voters ages 30-44, and 21% of those aged 18-29 have a "very favorable" or "somewhat favorable" view of the president.
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Older black voters, the report from the Democracy Fund and UCLA Nationscape said, are less supportive. Just 14% of those 45-64 and 9% of those 65 and older hold the same assessment.
However, WND reported Saturday a Rasmussen poll showing support for President Trump among black voters at 41%.
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In an interview with Just the News, civil-rights era activist Bob Woodson said: "Trump symbolizes a much broader understanding than just his personality, what he represents. I think that our younger people are realizing how they have been taken for granted by the Democratic Party and Democratic philosophy, and therefore are really open to alternatives."
He pointed to the 2018 governor's race in Florida, where white Republican Ron DeSantis won by some 32,000 votes over black Democrat Andrew Gillum.
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"And that's because 100,000 low-income blacks voted for DeSantis, even though Gillum had Obama and Oprah campaigning for him," Woodson told Just the News. "And that is because of DeSantis' position on choice in education and charter schools. So I think you're seeing a more independent strain through younger blacks who are able to look beyond the ideology and the personality and make decisions more on objective reasons to vote for people."
The JTN report also noted the results revealed that Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is in a weaker position with younger black voters than Hillary Clinton was in 2016.
Woodson suggested the change is at least partly because the voters are looking at the content of issues "that have nothing to do with race, but having to do with 'practical applications of policies like education, entrepreneurship, there's just more of an openness to look beyond race.'"
"Because blacks have been duped over the past 50 years by Democrats and liberals to only look at life through the prism of race and partisan politics. And I think that represents a break with that."
JTN cited some black leaders who disagree. For example, Toure, a popular, progressive African-American media host and writer, said the "overwhelming majority of black people feel that Trump is an enemy."
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And Antjuan Seawright, a senior advisor to the Democratic National Committee, said the poll was just one snapshot, and younger voters, occupied by coronavirus and racial tensions, have not focused on the election yet.
Rob Smith, a black activist who works with the Turning Point USA group, told JTN the results should be taken seriously.
He said the population is tired of "the same stories about victimhood, racism, and zero answers that the left has been giving for years."