Biden and Black Voters, Explained
Much has been made of Joe Biden’s Democratic primary success with Black voters. Pundits have taken it as proof of his electability and a sign that controversies over his support for the Iraq War and his harshly punitive 1994 crime bill are firmly behind him. AJ+ producer Cydney Tucker spoke with historian Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an Antiracist, to better understand the myth of the monolithic “Black vote” and what it obscures about Biden’s general election prospects.
Black voters aren’t a monolith
Black votership is split across age, ideology and region. Older, more conservative and Southern voters favored Biden. His work for Obama and the endorsement of Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina were especially influential. Younger, progressive voters, especially across the North and West have leaned toward Sen. Bernie Sanders. These divides “just so happen to be the case in many different communities,” says Kendi.
📊 The politics of crime have changed
Some older Black voters got behind Biden’s 1994 crime bill at the time, signing on to his conservative approach in order to address their own fears about crime. “I don't think we should forget that you had many Black Americans who feared that there was such a thing as ‘young Black super predators,’ and who were calling for their politicians and police officers to mass-incarcerate these people,” Kendi said. Young Black progressives want a candidate whose policies combat mass incarceration and police brutality.
Candidates need to work for the youth vote
Young voters are more likely to be victims of voter suppression. States with same-day or automatic registration see a dramatic increase in young voters, and people who move around (often younger people) are less likely to vote because of registration complications. “I resent when you have so many older people, instead of changing our voting policies, they continue to condemn young people as lazy, as apolitical,” says Kendi.
Further, says Kendi, young voters may not feel they have candidates who reflect their politics. Just because Biden is winning likely voters, says Kendi, “doesn't mean he's going to win those young Black voters who Hillary Clinton lost.” Young people are treated as a nuisance instead of a legitimate interest group who need to be courted. “People are not blaming those white swing voters who swung from Obama to Trump – they’re blaming the candidate. So too should they ... be blaming the choice of the centrist candidate” if he fails to garner progressive support, Kendi said.
Produced by Cydney Tucker