Recently, Liberty Nation reported that Rasmussen’s polled approval rating of President Donald Trump among black voters had surged to 29%, up from 15% a year earlier. Now, only two weeks later, the polling organization tweeted that the black approval rating for the president has skyrocketed to 36%.
These stellar poll numbers may be only a fluke, but if confirmed by future surveys and election results as a real trend, it is nothing short of a political earthquake. The last time a similarly dramatic shift occurred was in the 1930s when black voters abandoned the party of Abraham Lincoln during the Great Depression and voted for the party of slavery and the Ku Klux Klan instead, who offered them welfare breadcrumbs in their time of desperation. They have stayed loyal to the Democratic Party ever since – until now. Are African-American voters finally coming home?
A New Political Landscape?
Black people make up about 13% of the U.S. population and if the approval trend continues, landing the black vote near 50% for Trump, it could spell catastrophe for the current political model of the Democratic Party, which heavily relies on minority voters to win elections. It would bring many blue states into play for the Republicans, and the Democrats would be forced to return to the political center like Bill Clinton did in the 1990s. We could be witnessing the first signs of peak progressivism and identity politics.
Why?
What are the underlying causes of this sudden change? Multiple factors have slowly eroded decades of sedimented negative opinion about the Republican party and conservatives.
First, the economy is finally booming again, bringing the black unemployment rate to record low levels. Being against that is ideologically hard. Moreover, after years of stagnation under President Barack Obama, it seems that Trump can take credit for much of it.
Second, conservatives have been on the offensive in the culture war and this effort seems to be bearing fruit. People are growing more aware of the racist history of the Democratic Party. The #WalkAway movement seems to be real.
Key Players
Two people seem to have played an exceptionally important role in converting black Americans to Trump’s cause. One of them is Candace Owens, who was “red-pilled” only a year ago and became a prominent YouTube commentator. She, in turn, was discovered by rapper Kanye West who famously tweeted, “I like the way Candace Owens thinks.”
Shortly after West said something nice about Trump and questioned the black allegiance to the Democratic Party, the Trump’s surge of popularity among black voters started.
A Popular Wall?
Finally, the message about cracking down on illegal immigration may be more popular among black voters than people think. There is a widespread perception among many people that desperate illegals from South America are pushing wages down and reducing job opportunities for low-skilled workers. African-Americans are statistically overrepresented in this labor group and as such feel the negative effects of illegal immigration more than most.
If these truly are the most important contributing factors, let’s make a prediction: the surge is not over yet.
