The Democratic Party has increasingly lost support among black males,
and now the party is a little worried that this particular demographic is
not gonna turn up the vote for them in the 2024 general election.
So according to the Washington Post, their concern stems from a 10% point
decline in black voter turnout in last year's midterms compared with to 2018,
a bigger drop than among any other racial or ethnic group,
according to a Washington Post analysis of the Census Bureau's turnout survey.
So the Post reports that according to the Democratic Party's internal analysis,
young and male black voters specifically were voting less in pretty
important states like Georgia.
And it's important to keep Georgia in mind, okay?
Because the black vote certainly turned up in Georgia during the 2020
Senate runoff election, and the reason why they did that is because Biden promised
we get a majority in the Senate, we're gonna give you a voting rights bill.
But Democrats did not deliver on that.
Didn't even seem like they tried, okay?
Now, Mayor Mondale Robinson, who ,of course, is a good friend of the show,
didn't mince words when it came to the problem that Democrats are facing.
He told the Post, quote, the Democratic Party has been failing epically at
reaching this demographic of black men, and that's sad to say.
Black men are your secon- most stable base overwhelmingly, and
yet you can't reach them in a way that makes your work easier.
And so this has been an ongoing trend.
I noticed it during Trump's re-election campaign when he
somehow managed to get increased support among black males in that election.
And so, I'm curious what you think about this, Waz.
What do you think is at the heart of this issue?
Why do you think the Republican Party has increased its support among black male
voters, and even though it's not part of this particular story,
they also increased support among Latino voters as well.
>> Speaker 2: The thing about the Republicans gaining support,
I think we're talking about something like going from 10% to 12, right?
It's not as if they've gotten some massive bump in blackmail vote.
And I think the lack of turnout, which I think is a bigger issue for
Democrats rather than voters flipping, but just general apathy, I think that's
a problem to them because they've been found out by a lot of people, guys.
I think a lot of people realized that these fools are all talk, and
when they do lift a finger, it's to enrich the military industrial complex,
it's to crush workers in the railroad union.
It's not on behalf of black people at large and especially black male voters.
They're not doing anything for that demographic of people.
And all they've done, in fact, is patronize them.
And honestly, I think it's a dodge to try to blame some of their electoral
issues on the lack of turnout from black males in places like Georgia.
I think the lack of enthusiasm generally that they're able to generate
is because they don't bring anything for people, they just don't.
When they snap into order as a party and as an establishment is to do things for
people that are already doing quite well for themselves in our society.
And I think people are turning their eyes open to this and
they're not impressed by it.
Why should anybody be surprised by this?
>> Speaker 1: I think the way Biden handled the potential rail workers' strike
is such a good example of what you're talking about, right?
Look, in the end,
even though he had Congress intervene to prevent that strike from taking place,
after that happened, the Biden administration was negotiating pretty hard
with the rail companies to secure the paid time off that the workers wanted.
And wouldn't it have been better if the Biden administration put its
thumb on the scale from the very beginning to basically
force the rail companies to give them the paid time off and
have them [CROSSTALK] >> Speaker 2: But
that wouldn't be the Democratic party way, Anna,
it's better >> It's so
dumb because in the end he didn't end up getting the credit that he deserved for
securing the paid time off, right?
>> Speaker 2: Of course not.
And by the way, it shows you where his allegiances lie.
It's like, no, the most important people are gonna get their stuff done right away.
They get theirs first, always.
And if we can manage to squeeze something through at the 11th hour, then cool.
But what was the of utmost importance was that those folks got to keep
their money flowing, and
the workers could wait on their lives being improved, even marginally.
To me that's messaging, that's signaling,
I think everybody understands who matters to this party and
especially in the party's establishment and who's an afterthought.
>> Speaker 1: Right, and look, while this story specifically focuses on the black
vote, male black voters specifically, the fact of the matter is the largest voting
bloc in the country are non voters, people who just don't vote at all,
who have wrote off elections and just don't feel the need to engage.
I think that says something about their belief in our political system,
in our electoral process, and how much, I guess,
influence they have over our political decisions and outcomes, right?
And I wanna give you a little bit from Brittany Smith.
She's the executive director of the Philadelphia-based Black Leadership Pack.
She described her experiences with black voters as follows.
In the past, Smith simply needed to remind people of where and when to vote.
Now, she said, many express a cynicism
about politics that requires a deeper level of persuasion.
She says, quote, when you think about election cycle to election cycle,
black voters have been telling us for a long time what matters.
They want to put food on the table, a roof over their head,
send kids to good schools, live in neighborhoods that are safe.
I don't think the issues are new, it's the way we talk about them and
the way we're centering the voice of the people who live in these communities.
But look, I would tweak what Brittany is saying just a little bit because,
believe me, Democrats love to talk about how they're
going to improve people's economic conditions.
But I think what's been clear, increasingly,
through all these election cycles is that talk is cheap.
And while they rhetorically support these things, when push comes to shove,
after these elections, after they gain majorities in both chambers of Congress,
they don't really fight for the things that they claim to want to accomplish.
And I think that's a huge problem.
I think that leads to the cynicism that she's talking about when she's trying to
encourage people to show up and vote.
>> Speaker 2: And again, look at what they come on one accord to do,
it's like in an instance, in a snap, Ukraine can get just billions of dollars.
People see those headlines, they watch their TV and they're like that's nuts.
That people in Ukraine can get this aid in a jiffy, and
anybody who's a normal person in America, who's in a bind, they have to do this,
all this hand wringing, all this debating, all this this.
They don't marshal every single thing at their fingertips in order to get things
done for people who are in dire straits here at home.
And people internalize that messaging and people understand that.
I've heard people say this stuff all the time.
We don't have anything for the suffering people over here, but yeah,
we could buy some weapons from weapons manufacturers in America,
line their pockets really quickly.
And that's not to say that the people in Ukraine aren't being aggressed against and
they shouldn't have a chance to sort of defend themselves and where they live,
that's not to say that.
But the rapidity with which this stuff can happen for the Ukraine cause,
American people see that and they feel a way about it.
>> Totally, yeah.
I totally agree with you.
I don't think it's because they don't want to help Ukraine,
it's that they see the difference between how quickly the federal government is
willing to allocate the funds for that cause while they nickel and
dime the American people when it comes to some of
social programs that Democrats have been claiming they support for decades now.
The fact that we still don't have mandatory paid family leave, the fact that
we haven't raised the federal minimum wage since the Bush administration.
Okay, like all of these issues just keep mounting and
persuading people that you know what, maybe voting doesn't really matter.
Which, by the way, I disagree with.
I think voting does matter, but I understand the cynicism as well.
Now meanwhile, it seems like some Republicans are trying to gaslight young
black men into thinking that the administration has already helped them.
So, Cedric Richmond, a former Biden advisor who is now a senior advisor at
the Democratic National Committee said there will be a clear focus on making
black voters aware of how they have benefited from Biden administration
policies, learning from the errors of past Democratic efforts that fell short.
Real curious to see how that plays out,
I'm curious to see what they're going to cite specifically.
And look, to be fair, the economy has improved.
I am shocked at the consumer confidence of the economy right now,
I would not have expected it.
Inflation is starting to come down, but that doesn't erase the fact that
most Americans, at this point, are not able to attain housing.
We still have a serious housing crisis, the interest rates that have gone up to
tackle inflation has made home purchases impossible for most people.
And I'm talking about most people who are gainfully employed,
bringing in six figures a year.
Still not enough.
It's a huge problem.
People are struggling with that issue and more.
And then finally, it seems that Democrats are taking black women for
granted as well.
So many Democrats interviewed said they were less worried about black women,
whose voting enthusiasm has historically been more robust than that of black men.
Black women were a huge factor in Biden's victory in 2020.
Advocates expect that trend to continue, and get a load of this Waz,
you're gonna love this.
Okay?
To continue, particularly with Vice President Harris on the ticket and
the appointment of Supreme Court Justice Katanji Brown Jackson,
who both made history as the first black women in their roles.
That is Democrat Party 101, in my opinion, right?
Where it's like we have provided you a symbol of progressive policy or
progressive ideals, right?
Where it's like, look identity.
Look at the identity of the people we've appointed or
the identity of the people that we have in our party.
I don't know how much longer that's gonna work?
I just think that they are taking black women for
granted in this case and they're putting too much weight behind,
just like the illusion of pro diversity elements of the Democratic Party.
I don't know. I don't know if I'm articulating
this correctly.
But I just find that whole paragraph kind of insulting.
>> Speaker 2: The Kamala Harris part of it where she's become a meme on the internet,
even amongst black people, as the drunk auntie.
That you would cite her basically the cookie that you gave
to black women or one of the cookies is flatly absurd.
And then the idea that you wanna remind people that Katanji,
look, as great as she is, as it is that she's on there,
I was really happy that they put her on there.
Her background of experience, anyway,
is more diverse than the average Supreme Court person.
Why would you wanna remind people that she's one of three liberal justices on
there?
They are just rubber stamping every single right wing,
just ridiculous fever dream through that court over and over.
Why would you wanna remind people the one thing that you quote,
unquote, did doesn't have any effect on their lives or policy right now?
It's nuts.
>> Right.
>> Speaker 2: It's absolutely nuts.
>> Speaker 1: It really is.
So we'll see what happens with the Biden administration and
his re-election campaign.
They're really worried about it, but on the other end of the political spectrum
you have Republicans concerned that Trump is very likely to clinch the Republican
nomination, and they don't think that he's gonna be able to beat Biden.
So there's a lot of insecurity on both sides right now.
We'll see how it all plays out, but I would just say to the Democratic Party,
if you're concerned about losing support among a base of typically loyal
supporters, maybe dig into why they're actually unwilling to support you and
address their concerns instead of providing symbols of progress.
I think that's what Democrats have really weighed in on and
leaned into over the last few elections.
Actually give people something to vote for.
>> Speaker 2: By the way, Anna, just one more thing.
I wanna remind people, probably the most popular government
policy that has come out, man, I would say in the last what,
10-15 years, was the damn stimulus.
And it wasn't the black stimulus, it wasn't the Latino stimulus,
it was the stimulus.
They put money in people's pockets, and universally, people absolutely loved it.
So the lesson should be that, no, you don't need to do this black
symbolism crap, do stuff that makes people's lives better materially.
Those tax child credits that people enjoyed, they loved that.
>> They did, yep.
>> It wasn't the black child credit, it wasn't the Latino or the Asian or
the whatever or the indigenous.
It was just a great program that helped a lot of working people.
How about they just do that?
>> Speaker 1: That's such a good point.
Whenever you implement universal policies rather than divvy
up policies based on identity, they tend to pull better.
They're far more popular.
And I think that you're right,
I think that would actually help the Democratic Party more than anything.