A Daily Show segment may not have gone as planned when they gathered a group of black voters and half of them revealed they were willing to cast their ballot for Donald Trump.
An Ipsos poll suggested in late June, just after Joe Biden’s disastrous debate with Trump in Atlanta, that his support among African Americans had fallen 20 points from 2020.
The segment on the venerable liberal comedy show seemed to demonstrate as much, when correspondent Josh Johnson gathered a half-dozen black voters to discuss their reaction to the debate.
Johnson began the segment, titled “Are We Picking on Trump?” by asking the six people (three men and three women) who they would vote for.
Three of them mentioned Trump, although one of them did so with some reservations, which left Johnson in shock.
A Daily Show segment may not have gone as planned when they gathered a group of black voters and half of them revealed they were willing to vote for Donald Trump.
“Okay, we’re evenly split, which… yeah, I didn’t see that coming,” he said, as the contestants laughed.
When asked who he would vote for, one respondent said, “Do I have to say his name? I don’t want to, but Trump is most likely.”
However, the other two Trump voters in the group seemed much more comfortable, as did the three Biden voters.
“I’ve always been a Democrat, and the Democratic Party in general always makes a lot of promises that they can’t keep,” said the male voter who declined to give Trump’s name.
Both he and one of Trump’s two female voters felt there would be a shift in the black community toward the Republican candidate, again blaming Democrats.
‘You know, they use the issues of the African-American community as a pulpit to stand on and make promises just to get us to go out and vote, and then once we vote and everyone’s in their seats, it’s like, well, what happened?’
They said they were unhappy with Biden’s past comments about the black community, including an interview with radio host Charlamagne the God where he proclaimed: “If you have trouble deciding whether you’re with me or with Trump, then you ain’t black.”
“They’ve both said some questionable and nasty things, but when you start looking at the facts, it’s like Biden made a mistake, bro,” one voter said.
Recent polls show that while Trump remains widely unpopular among black voters, he has made gains since leaving office.
An Ipsos poll suggested in late June, just after Joe Biden’s disastrous Atlanta debate with Trump, that his support among African Americans had fallen 20 points since 2020.
Johnson began the segment, titled “Do We Mess With Trump?” by asking the six people (three men and three women) who they would vote for. Three of them said Trump, though one of them did so with some reservations, which left Johnson in a state of shock.
Two June polls conducted by AP-NORC shows that roughly 7 in 10 black Americans have a somewhat or very unfavorable view of Trump.
While that level is still underwater, Trump only won eight percent of the black vote in the last election.
President Joe Biden’s favorability among Black and Hispanic Americans has also fallen since 2021.
Younger black Americans might be a bit more open to Trump’s appeals. About a third of young black adults (under 45) view him positively, compared with about 1 in 10 black adults 45 and older. But most young black adults view him unfavorably.
Meanwhile, roughly 6 in 10 Black Americans have a positive view of Biden, up from 8 in 10 when he took office.