Donald Trump's Gains With Black Voters Have Been Wiped Out

Former president Donald Trump's gains with Black voters have been eroded since Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race and Vice President Kamala Harris became the expected Democratic nominee, according to polls.

Biden endorsed Harris shortly after announcing that he was ending his reelection bid on Sunday. It came after weeks of calls for him to step aside after a disastrous debate performance against Trump, the Republican nominee, raised concerns about his ability to win in November and serve a second term.

Top Democrats quickly coalesced around Harris and by Monday evening, she had secured the support of enough Democratic delegates to become her party's nominee, The Associated Press reported.

Donald Trump on July 24, 2024, in Charlotte, North Carolina. Polling suggests Trump's gains with Black voters are being wiped out. Donald Trump on July 24, 2024, in Charlotte, North Carolina. Polling suggests Trump's gains with Black voters are being wiped out. Brandon Bell/Getty Images

If she is nominated at the Democratic National Convention next month, Harris would be the first woman of color—she is of Black and South Asian descent—to top a major party's ticket.

Polling in recent months indicated that Biden was losing support among Black voters, who were crucial to his 2020 victory. In 2020, 92 percent of Black voters had voted for Biden, while about 8 percent backed Trump.

Polling conducted since Harris announced her candidacy suggests Black voters who had grown disenchanted with Biden may be energized by the prospect of a historic Harris presidency.

A CNN poll conducted on July 22 and 23, surveying 1,631 registered voters who had previously participated in CNN polls in April and June, found that Harris had the support of 78 percent of Black voters, while Trump had 15 percent. A previous poll had 23 percent of Black voters backing Trump, while 73 percent backed Biden.

Meanwhile, an ActiVote survey, conducted between July 21 and 23, found Black voters were overwhelmingly backing Harris—90 percent said they were supporting Harris, while 10 percent were backing Trump.

Asked for comment, Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt directed Newsweek to a memo from the campaign's pollster Tony Fabrizio about what he branded the "Harris honeymoon."

"The honeymoon will be a manifestation of the wall-to-wall coverage" Harris receives from the media, he wrote. The coverage would be "largely positive and will certainly energize Democrats," giving Harris a polling edge ahead of the Democratic National Convention on August 19.

Fabrizio said Democrats and the media "will try and tout these polls as proof that the race has changed. Butt he fundamentals of the race stay the same."

The Harris campaign has been contacted for comment via email.

Thomas Gift, an associate professor of political science and director of the Centre on U.S. Politics at University College London, U.K., told Newsweek that Black voters "peeling away from Trump suggest that his hold on this demographic was always tenuous.

"The question is whether those losses are compensated for by an increase in Trump's support by other voters, especially white, working-class Americans who Biden appealed to by emphasizing his blue-collar, Scranton roots."

Costas Panagopoulos, a political science professor at Northeastern University, told Newsweek that the "swift shift in support for Trump to Harris among Black voters tells you something about how fickle Trump's support was among these voters.

"Once they had a viable alternative that also happens to share their racial identity, they jumped ship from Trump almost instantly."

Harris has seen a show of support from the Black community since announcing her candidacy. About 90,000 Black women logged onto a video call for her campaign on Sunday night, while a "Black Men for Harris" online streaming event drew tens of thousands who pledged to support Harris, according to the AP.

On Wednesday night, Harris addressed members of the historically Black sorority Zeta Phi Beta in Indianapolis and thanked them for their work in electing her vice president and Biden president.

"And now, in this moment, our nation needs your leadership once again," she said. "In this moment, I believe we face a choice between two different visions for our nation, one focused on the future, the other focused on the past. And with your support, I am fighting for our nation's future."

The Trump campaign has been courting Black voters, claiming that the former president's legal challenges could endear him to Black Americans as they can relate to being targeted by an unfair criminal justice system. But some polls suggested Black voters were turning away from Trump after he became the first former U.S. president to be convicted of felony crimes earlier this year.

Update 7/25/24, 5:45 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from Thomas Gift.

Update 7/25/24, 10:10 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from the Trump campaign and Costas Panagopoulos.