The top two issues on voters' minds as they cast their ballots for the next President of the United States is the Coronavirus and the economy. Many voters on the left disagreed with how President Donald Trump has handled the virus and economic turmoil, while many on the right believe former Vice President Joe Biden will shut down our country leading to mass unemployment and market decline. These issues are especially important to Black voters. 

The coronavirus has disproportionately affected Black communities; according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Blacks or African-Americans are 2.6 times more likely to contract the virus and 2.1 times more likely to die from complications compared to white, non-Hispanics. The factors that make African-Americans more likely to contract the virus include socioeconomic status, access to health care, and increased exposure to the virus due to occupation. African-American and Black workers are overrepresented in low-wage jobs and underrepresented in high-wage occupations. White workers with a college bachelor's degree earn a median income of $61,176 while Black workers with an equal level of education earn a median income of $50,108 according to the 2018 CPS Annual Social and Economic Supplement. 

President Trump has made claims that he has done more for the Black community than any other U.S. President, with the exception of Abraham Lincoln. President Trump boasts that he is responsible for record low unemployment rates, although Black unemployment has steadily been declining since 2011 under the Obama Administration. The Trump Administration recently unveiled an economic stimulus package for Black communities called the “Platinum Plan,” which President Trump claims will create three million new jobs for Black workers, open 500,000 new Black-owned businesses, and increase access to capital by 500 billion dollars to support Black communities. The Platinum Plan also vows to build safe urban communities with the highest standards of police enforcement and create a national clemency project. 

Now, Black voters are skeptical about the newly proposed plan as President Trump's previous track record of racially divisive rhetoric and xenophobia lurk in the back of many minds. The turn-out rates for Black voters dropped from a record-breaking high of 66.6% in 2012 to 59.6% in 2016, according to data from the Pew Research Center. In the 2016 election, 91% of Black voters supported Democratic candidate Hilary Clinton, with 98% of Black women and 81% of Black men voting democratically. Recent polls estimate that a higher percentage of Black voters will support Trump this year, likely due to his touts of low pre-pandemic unemployment, special funding programs to HBCUs, and the “Platinum Plan.” Democratic candidate Joe Biden has also received backlash for his support of the1994 Crime Bill, which disenfranchised Black communities and led to the mass incarceration of Black men.  

After a long election week, Joe Biden was announced the new Presidential Elect with 290 electoral college votes on Saturday, November 7th, 2020, and Kamala Harris made history as the first woman to become Vice President. The Biden Campaign has promised to further economic mobility, close racial wealth and income gap, and expand access to higher education for African Americans. Bidens' plans include doubling the current funding for the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI), which was started under the Obama Administration. The plan has been named the “LIFT EVERY VOICE” and also plans to expand the New Market Credit Tax that will hopefully draw in tens of billions of dollars to low-income communities. The plan also calls for reinvestment and will double funding for the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI). CDFI supports micro-level community initiatives to drive financial support into low-income areas. Based on the promises Joe Biden’s campaign has promised to Black voters it is clear why he amassed a great majority of African American voters. Presidential candidates shouldn’t neglect to give attention to problems within the African American economy if they hope to gain Black voters.

Author: Kenya Grant

References:

COVID-19 Hospitalization and Death by Race/Ethnicity. (n.d.). Retrieved November 06, 2020, from https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/investigations-discovery/hospitalization-death-by-race-ethnicity.html

Patten, E. (2020, August 14). Racial, gender wage gaps persist in U.S. despite some progress. Retrieved November 06, 2020, from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/07/01/racial-gender-wage-gaps-persist-in-u-s-despite-some-progress/

President Trump Releases The Platinum Plan for Black Americans: Opportunity, Security, Prosperity, and Fairness. (n.d.). Retrieved November 06, 2020, from https://www.donaldjtrump.com/media/president-trump-releases-the-platinum-plan-for-black-americans-opportunity-security-prosperity-and-fairness