Biden’s diminishing support among young Black voters is ‘most concerning,’ says ‘Black Voters Matter’ founder

“Black Voters Matter” co-founder Cliff Albright said Monday that President Biden’s waning support among young, Black voters was the campaign’s “most concerning” issue.

CNN’s Poppy Harlow noted the president’s weakness in the polls among young, Black voters, asking, “How much of that, Cliff, do you attribute to particularly this president not calling for a cease-fire and the mounting civilian casualties in Gaza? We saw him interrupted by protesters over it just this weekend in South Carolina.”

“That is definitely a major issue,” Albright said. “You know, I told a high-ranking person within the administration that has got to be their most concerning issue. When you look at the poll numbers, you know, Black voters in general are disappointed with the president’s policy, disappointed, to be generous, with the president’s policy in Gaza, but when you look at the younger Black voters, it’s around 70%, 75%, 80% who are not just disappointed, but just outright mad about it, and that can be an issue.”

Albright added that the Biden campaign had to do a better job talking to young people about climate change, gun reform and “police accountability.” 

“Black Voters Matter” co-founder Cliff Albright joins CNN’s Poppy Harlow for an interview on Monday, January 29, 2023.  (Screenshot/CNN)

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“That won’t eliminate the concerns and the outright anger about Gaza, but folks have got to hear something that at least gives them some kind of balance to what they are really upset about in terms of policy in Gaza,” he said. 

Harlow also asked Albright why Biden was struggling to shore up Black voters, a key voting bloc that propelled him to victory in 2020. Alrbight said he had his doubts about the current polling showing Biden was losing support among Black voters and that some of that support was going to former President Trump.

“In fact, if you look at Black men, interestingly, in 2016 he [Trump] got 14% of Black men and in 2020, he only got 12% of Black men, and so the number is actually going in the reverse, but you’re seeing a lot of talk about these polls, but if you look at the way that we vote, it’s not going to happen. It’s not a massive shift. The bigger question though is whether or not folks actually turn out to vote at all. There’s always that third choice of not voting for either candidate,” he said. 

President Joe Biden delivers remarks at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Mic Smith)

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Harlow asked how the Biden campaign could turn this around.

“It’s not all doom and gloom… You’ve got to talk to people. You’ve got to get people good information about what’s been done. The most common question we have is, ‘Well, I don’t know exactly what he’s done,’ right?” Albright said.

Albright also called on the campaign to invest in Black media and find a way to make sure Biden’s message gets to younger voters, “wherever people go.”

President Joe Biden speaks during the reproductive freedom campaign rally at George Mason University in Manassas, Virginia, on Jan. 23, 2024. (Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Biden headed to South Carolina on Saturday to help bolster his support among Black voters. During his remarks, Biden was interrupted multiple times by pro-Palestinian protesters. 

Biden was also interrupted multiple times during an abortion rights rally in Manassas, Virginia, on Tuesday. 

Throughout Biden’s talk, multiple protesters interrupted by shouting critiques of his administration’s handling of Israel’s ongoing ground offensive against the terrorist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Immediately after beginning his remarks, a male protester with a Palestinian flag shouted, “How many kids have you killed?” The protester was drowned out by the crowd chanting “four more years” as security escorted the protester out.

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Fox News’ Bradford Betz contributed to this report.