Here’s a shocking number: Democratic presidential candidates have received an average of nearly 90% of the black vote for more than five decades.
But why? Many blacks live in big cities run by Democrats, and conditions there are pretty awful. What’s more, once Democrats get into the White House, they don’t deliver for the black community. During the campaign, the candidates promise they’ll do a lot. Then when they win, they don’t. Every. Single. Time.
And yet election after election, blacks turn out in droves to support the Democratic candidate.
It’s not like Republicans haven’t been trying to woo them. George W. Bush got 9% of the black vote in 2000, then made a heavy outreach and soared in 2004 — to 11%. In 2012 Mitt Romney pledged to help the black community more than had President Barack Obama (who got 95% of the 2008 vote).
“If equal opportunity in America were an accomplished fact, then a chronically bad economy would be equally bad for everyone. Instead, it’s worse for African Americans in almost every way. The unemployment rate, the duration of unemployment, average income, and median family wealth are all worse for the black community,” the Republican candidate said at an NAACP speech.
Romney ended up with 8% of the black vote, the same percentage President Trump would get in 2016.
But during that campaign, Trump declared: “At the end of four years, I guarantee you that I will get over 95% of the African American vote. I promise you. Because I will produce.”
Which brings us today. Trump won’t get anywhere near that, of course. In fact, a Washington Post poll in June found 92% of black registered voters support former Vice President Joe Biden over Trump (even though Biden helped author both the 1994 crime law, which Sen. Tim Scott, South Carolina Republican, says “put millions of Black Americans behind bars,” and a provision in the 1986 drug law that delivered far longer sentences for those arrested for crack cocaine than powder cocaine).
Nevertheless, the Trump campaign brought some compelling black politicians and supporters to the Republican National Convention on Monday, all of whom delivered powerful speeches — none more so than congressional candidate Kim Klacik.
“Let me remind you, the Democrats have controlled this part of Baltimore City for over 50 years, and they have run this beautiful place right into the ground,” Klacik said. “Abandoned buildings, liquor stores on every corner, drug addicts, guns on the street — that’s now the norm in many neighborhoods.”
“You’d think Maryland taxpayers would be getting a whole lot since our taxes are out of control; instead, we’re paying for decades of incompetence and corruption. Sadly, this same cycle of decay exists in many of America’s Democrat-run cities,” Klacik continued. “And yet, the Democrats still assume that black people will vote for them, no matter how much they let us down and take us for granted.”
“We’re sick of it; we’re not gonna take it any more,” Klacik said. “The days of blindly supporting the Democrats are coming to an end. In Baltimore, we have the highest number of black Republicans in the entire country running for office this election cycle.”
Scott also delivered an inspiring speech on the first night of the convention.
“Our family went from cotton to Congress in one lifetime,” he said. “There are millions of families just like mine all across this nation, full of potential, seeking to live the American Dream. And I’m here tonight to tell you that supporting the Republican ticket gives you the best chance of making that dream a reality.”
And Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker took direct aim at those who say Trump is racist.
“It hurt my soul to hear the terrible names that people call Donald. The worst one is ‘racist.’ I take it as a personal insult that people would think I’ve had a 37-year friendship with a racist,” Walker said. “People who think that don’t know what they’re talking about. Growing up in the Deep South, I’ve seen racism up close. I know what it is. And it isn’t Donald Trump.”
“He keeps right on fighting to improve the lives of black Americans and all Americans,” Walker said.
Trump is making a push for more black support in November, yet he’ll likely draw less than 10% of the vote.
But with cities burning to the ground and politicians pushing to defund the police, you’ve got to wonder why blacks continue to support a party that never does a thing for them. Democrats clearly take them for granted year after year. And they will this time around, too.
*Joseph Curl ran the Drudge Report from 2010 to 2014 and covered the White House for a dozen years. He can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter at @JosephCurl. A version of this article ran previously in The Washington Times.