Opinion | Blair LM Kelley: Why Bloomberg (yes, Bloomberg) could win over black voters as Biden fades. - NBCNewsTHINK
At the same time, these black voters are struggling to hold on to political representation as Southern cities gentrify and transform, while the deindustrializing South offers few opportunities for the working poor. But their focus is often on their place in a city and the state, not urban politics hundreds of miles away. They have probably heard the term"stop-and-frisk," but it likely isn't as front of mind as the coming school board election.
And it's important to remember the history of the black electorate, particularly older voters, who overcame decades of disfranchisement, poll taxes, white-only primaries and voter intimidation just to be able to vote in the first place. When they finally did get the right to vote freely, they had to support lots of candidates who were tremendously imperfect and, oftentimes, racist but who they hoped shared some of their interests and could win in a general election.
These are folks who are accustomed to voting for the lesser of the two evils. And they are just emerging from the ashes of Hillary Clinton's historic campaign, which seemed to teach them that white men won't support a white woman — a refrain I've heard over and over from female voters at my church and other local organizations.
And the style of Bloomberg's attacks is part of what makes them think he can do that. Other Democratic candidates are criticizing Trump from a cerebral, high-minded, democracy-is-at-stake place; Bloomberg just hits him hard, highlighting his crass language, his callousness toward immigrant children and the dramatic erosion of the racial climate fostered by his presidency. Black voters like his
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