Prominent Black Democratic lawmakers have urged Black voters to rally behind President Joe Biden as he combats calls to abandon his reelection bid, amid heightened criticism that he’s too old and infirm to be the party’s nominee.
But polling suggests that Black voters are divided over keeping Biden on the ticket, with support for him weaker than he or his allies might want it to be.
Even as many Black Democratic voters say that they view the presumptive Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump, as a threat to democracy and will back whoever is at the top of their party’s ticket in November, some have strong reservations about Biden’s candidacy.
A plurality of Black voters surveyed — 47% — believe that someone else ought to be the Democrats’ standard-bearer, a July 3 New York Times/Siena College poll conducted after Biden’s poor performance in the first presidential debate found. Forty-three percent think that Biden should remain his party’s nominee. And 9% said that they don’t know or refused to answer.
Another July poll reached similar conclusions. By a small margin — 48%-47% — Black Democratic primary voters surveyed want Biden to step down and allow another Democrat to head the party’s ticket, according to research conducted by Jason Boxt of 3W Insights on behalf of the Welcome Party, a data-driven center-left nonprofit that focuses on increasing voter turnout among less partisan, less ideological voters.
Theodore R. Johnson, a senior adviser at New America, a public policy think tank, says that, in the aftermath of the debate, the vast majority of Black voters still like Biden. But, he said, more are probably asking whether the visibly diminished Biden who appeared on the stage can beat Trump.
“That’s the question that matters more. It’s not about whether Biden is going to be super effective in office if he wins reelection. It’s about whether this version of Biden can even win reelection,” Johnson told Capital B. “And Black voters are divided on that.”
For some Black voters, the issue with Biden is partly his age and his level of mental acuity. But other factors have soured some on the president, too.
Preston Mitchum, a Black Washington, D.C.-based activist and attorney, said that he’ll vote for Biden if he’s the nominee. He noted that Trump is a convicted felon and said he would be horrible for Black, LGBTQ, and other marginalized communities.
But he underscored that he’s disappointed that an 81-year-old, heterosexual white man is seeking a second stint in the White House when Democratic strategists could be elevating racial and sexual diversity and figuring out how to appeal to different wings of the party.
“Democratic officials have this tried and untrue practice of just supporting candidates they believe should be supported because of money and establishment,” Mitchum told Capital B, noting that he’s enthusiastic about figures such as the governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, and the former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Julián Castro. “It’s just really unfortunate that so many people don’t have enough political imagination to look beyond what we’ve seen time and again and get mad at those who want to push the party to be more thoughtful about what this country can be.”
Kenya Cummings, a South Carolina housing rights organizer, views accusations that Biden is too old as ageist. Instead, Cummings said Biden should be replaced because they believe that doing so could energize voters and increase turnout.
“I think that having Biden on the ticket has made a lot of folks, including Black folks, want to opt out of voting completely, and introducing another candidate could get them excited to go to the polls,” Cummings told Capital B. “The current campaign is like: ‘A vote for Biden is a vote for democracy.’ There are many people who don’t believe that, and I don’t think that there’s much he can do in the next few months to sway anyone. But maybe someone else can.”
Cummings disapproves of Biden’s handling of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and said that this turbulent period could be the right time to boot him.
“There’s a lot of Black and brown solidarity with Palestinians,” they said.
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The Black voters surveyed by Welcome favored Biden over Trump, 76%-16%. Additionally, a number of prominent Democrats polled as well as Biden did or slightly better, including Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (80%), Shapiro (79%), U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia (79%), California Gov. Gavin Newsom (79%), U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo (78%), Biden reelection team co-chair Mitch Landrieu (78%), U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg (77%), and Vice President Kamala Harris (76%).
Supporters of the president say that he’s the party’s “only hope” and that replacing him would be fanning the fires of chaos and uncertainty close to Election Day, and with so much at stake. The Heritage Foundation has released a right-wing agenda, “Project 2025,” that would roll back many important civil rights gains of the past half century.
Supporters of Biden also say that he has achieved a lot of good for Black Americans, from boosting wages to wiping out billions in student loan debt, and demonstrated once that he can beat Trump.
On Thursday, roughly 20 local Black clergy leaders and a few of their congregants rallied support for Biden at a press conference inside the Georgia state Capitol in Atlanta.
They were led by Bishop Reginald Jackson of the Sixth Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the Rev. Timothy McDonald, pastor of First Iconium Baptist Church. Both men suggested Democrats can’t defeat Trump if they’re divided.
“Unless he decides to step aside, he’s going to be the Democratic nominee,” Jackson said of Biden. “Furthermore, we take this position because we are at war. This nation is at war. We are at war against MAGA, Project 2025, white nationalism [and] efforts to turn back time.”
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus have embraced Biden at a moment when high-profile white Democrats have been stepping forward to ask him to leave the race after his disappointing debate performance, when he struggled to complete some sentences and counter Trump’s stream of falsehoods.
U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina told reporters this week, “We’re ridin’ with Biden.”
At the Essence Festival of Culture that took place in New Orleans last weekend, U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters of California dismissed concerns about the president’s age. “Hell, I’m older than Biden,” the 85-year-old said to a round of applause. “And I get up every morning, and I exercise, and I work late hours. I take care of Black people.”
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries also has stood behind Biden, but he’s expected to relay the reservations of some of his colleagues directly to the president by the end of the week, according to CBS News.
Biden is speaking at a NATO news conference on Thursday, where he faces pressure to demonstrate his viability as a leader and candidate. Since the debate, he and his team have maintained that he’s capable of not only campaigning, and defeating Trump, but governing for a second term.
Staff writer Chauncey Alcorn contributed to this report.
This story has been updated.