President Biden will travel to Charleston, South Carolina, next week as part of his campaign’s effort to connect with Black voters, with plans to speak at the historically Black church where nine parishioners were murdered by a White supremacist in 2015.
Mr. Biden will travel Monday to Mother Emanuel AME Church, where avowed White supremacist Dylann Roof murdered the parishioners as they closed their eyes to pray during a June 2015 Bible study.
It will be Mr. Biden’s first visit to the church and his fourth trip to South Carolina as president. South Carolina will hold the year’s first sanctioned Democratic primary, and Mr. Biden’s campaign needs to show it can deliver critical minority voters who remain skeptical of the president amid high inflation.
Mr. Biden’s trip will come just two days after Vice President Kamala Harris will be in South Carolina to deliver remarks to the Episcopal District AME Church Women’s Missionary Society.
In Mr. Biden’s last campaign appearance of 2023, he spoke to the Wisconsin Black Chamber of Commerce in an effort to shore up his support among Black voters. He told the enthusiastic audience that his administration has created a boom for Black-owned businesses and Black Americans in general.
Recent polls show Mr. Biden’s support among Black voters is shrinking. Some are threatening to withhold their support, while others are drifting toward former President Donald Trump.
The lack of enthusiasm among Black voters could prove fatal to Mr. Biden’s reelection chances. They formed the core of Mr. Biden’s base in 2020, and a dip in just one or two battleground states, such as Georgia or Michigan, could determine the election outcome.
An EPIC-MRA poll released last month found that only 62% of Black respondents would support Mr. Biden for a second term. Of those who didn’t support the president, 17% said they would vote for Mr. Trump and 17% were undecided.
A poll by The New York Times/Siena College revealed that 22% of Black voters in six battleground states would support Mr. Trump and 71% would back Mr. Biden in a theoretical rematch.
Those numbers show that Mr. Biden’s support in Black communities is waning. Mr. Biden captured 92% of the Black vote in 2020, compared with 8% who turned out for Mr. Trump, according to Pew Research.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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