According to a Rasmussen Poll released Monday, “voters continue to believe President Trump has been better for young blacks than President Obama.” According to the national telephone survey, 55 percent think “life for young black Americans has gotten better since Trump’s election” or stayed about the same (33 percent and 22 percent respectively) while 36 percent think it’s gotten worse. In July 2016, only 13 percent said that “life for young black Americans had gotten better since the election of the nation’s first black president.”
Despite the obvious progress Trump has helped deliver for black Americans, Democrats are largely not willing to give Trump credit, nor do black Americans. Even with record low unemployment for black Americans achieved under President Trump, 60 percent of Democrats and 59 percent of black voters think life for black Americans has gotten worse with Trump in office.
Even though black Americans have better opportunities under Trump, voters still think the government should be doing more, and believe that the sour relationship between Trump and members of the Congressional Black Caucus doesn’t help—though it’s hard to say what the left-wing Congressional Black Caucus has actually done for black America. Years of race-baiting and playing the race card against Republicans to reinforce loyalty to the Democratic Party hasn’t had a positive impact. The improvement in the perception of how black Americans are faring under Trump, even if they don’t give him credit for it, does suggest that better messaging and outreach are needed.
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Matt Margolis is the author of The Scandalous Presidency of Barack Obama and the bestselling The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama. His new book, Trumping Obama: How President Trump Saved Us From Barack Obama’s Legacy, will be published July 30, 2019. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattMargolis
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