Parker: Black Americans Dump Biden En Masse - Take 1 Look at DC to See Why
A new report from Pew Research shows that the sharpest drop in approval of President Joe Biden has been among the Democratic Party’s most loyal and consistent supporters — black Protestants.
In March 2021, shortly after he took office, Biden’s support among black Protestants stood at 92 percent. By January, it was down to 65 percent, a drop of 27 points.
Over the same period, overall national approval of the president, per Gallup, was down from 54 percent to 40 percent, about half the drop among black Protestants.
Other polls tell the same story.
An NBC News poll shows black approval of Biden dropping from 83 percent last April to 64 percent now. A Quinnipiac University poll shows black approval during Biden’s first year in office dropping from 78 percent to 57 percent.
What’s going on? Should Democratic strategists be worried that a sea change is occurring among the voters on whom they could always most depend?
Trying to define some new grand reality is always a dangerous game in political analysis. But what we can do is note two major areas of concern for black Americans where they have reason to be dissatisfied with the leadership they see in Washington.
One is inflation.
The president and his Federal Reserve chairman bear responsibility for the inflation now rearing its head and disrupting American lives.
The Wall Street Journal noted in a recent editorial that the now 7.5 percent annualized increase in the price index is the worst in 40 years. During January, “some 73% of the items saw annual price rises of 3% or higher” and “some 55% of items saw inflation of 5% or higher.”
A Gallup poll in December showed that 71 percent of households earning $40,000 per year or less reported hardship as a result of price increases; over 25 percent reported “severe hardship.”
These are disproportionately black households. Whereas 37 percent of all American households earn $50,000 or less, 55 percent of black households are in this income category.
The Wall Street Journal called the new round of inflation the result of “historic policy failure” at the White House and the Federal Reserve.
Prominent Democratic economists and businessmen are also calling out this administration.
Wall Street businessman Steven Rattner, who served as counselor to the Treasury secretary during the Obama administration, wrote a piece for The New York Times last week entitled “Biden Keeps Blaming the Supply Chain for Inflation. That’s Dishonest.”
Rattner called on the president to prioritize reducing spending and the deficit, the complete opposite of the direction the Biden administration has taken things, despite many warnings. The terrible irony is that a major rationale for all the spending was to help the very low-income Americans who are now being hurt.
The other issue is the pandemic.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, after adjusting for age differences, the incidence of hospitalization due to COVID-19 has been almost three times higher among black than white Americans, and the incidence of death almost twice as high.
A new Gallup survey showed 69 percent of black Americans reported being stressed because of the threat of COVID-19 infection, compared to 57 percent of white Americans.
Morning Consult reported that in the three weeks following Biden’s announcement of federal rules mandating vaccines, black approval of his handling of the crisis dropped nine points from 70 percent to 61 percent. Among unvaccinated blacks, Biden’s net approval dropped 17 points.
The Biden administration is detached from the very real challenges — the cost of living and health concerns during the pandemic — with which black Americans have been struggling.
There is good reason to believe this is what is causing Biden’s approval ratings among blacks to plummet.
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