By Macy Meinhardt, Voice & Viewpoint Staff Writer
As the United States faces one of its most polarizing elections, much attention is placed on how Black voters, particularly males, will vote on November 5.
Black men and women are historically seen as a unified Democratic bloc and recent polls show that a vast majority of Black voters will back Vice President Kamala Harris.
However, polling also suggests that Harris’s support among Black men has slipped slightly, with about 15% of these voters saying that they will vote for former president Donald Trump – a six-point rise. It’s a subtle shift that, at times, has been framed in exaggerated terms.
“The media seems to love to give this narrative, and it never plays out,” said Cliff Albright, co-founder of Black Voters Matter.
Whatever the election’s outcome, interviews with a diverse group of local Black men — varying in age, occupation, and political awareness — reveal the complex factors that shape their voting decisions. .
Layered Perspectives
For Malik Thornton, health care and housing issues are prominent. Growing up in east county, he watched his mother battle cancer and struggle to find stable housing. Now, at age 22 Thornton has dedicated his career to solving the inequities at a policy level.
“I got into politics because I wanted to make sure that I was in the room and at the table to advocate for people like me,” said Thornton, a membership director for San Diego Young Democrats and a staff member for San Diego Councilmember Stephen Whitburn.
For him, Harris’s policies, like down payment aid for first-time homebuyers and the child tax credit, make her his clear pick. “Trump does not know our story,” Thornton said. “Kamala does.”
Thornton’s support for Harris align with the 49% of Black men under 50 backing the Democratic candidate, according to a NAACP voter study in August. That study also suggests a generational divide among Black male political support for Harris, with the percentage of Black men over 50 ranking much higher, at 77%.
Mateo Olmos, 25, has not voted before. He is unsure if he will vote this year, but says he is leaning toward Trump.
“We’re seeing ourselves step into adulthood, where we are struggling to afford a home, raise a family, buy groceries, particularly in Democratic-led cities and states,” Olmos said, who was raised in Imperial Beach and is currently a Public Health graduate student at San Diego State University.
Olmos, whose mother is Black and whose father moved to the US from Mexico, said that the Democratic party once “seemed to make sense” to him. He recalled how former president Barack Obama was an “inspiration” to him as a child.
“But since I’ve grown older, I’ve seen how corrupt both of these parties really are, and just how politics work in the United States,” said Olmos.
Olmos’s perspective reflects a growing dissatisfaction among younger Black men with the Democratic party. JeXsi Grey, 36, said he identifies with the “purple party,” which he described as favoring a blend of ideas from both parties over strict allegiance to either side. Grey, who said he was homeless for a time after being honorably discharged from the U.S. Air Force, now works as a Lived Experience Advocate with numerous non-profits such as Townspeople San Diego, advising on policy for homeless veterans and housing.
Grey doesn’t know who he will vote for. “It’s shareholders and people in power making the decisions, so does it [voting] really matter?” said Grey.
For others, their party affiliation does not equate their voting choices. Michael Evans, a 65-year-old occupational therapist and jazz musician residing in Chula Vista, considers himself a Republican and said that he will base his vote on the candidate’s character not on party affiliation. Evans said that he will back Harris, in line with his support for Biden in 2020 and the Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, in 2016.
Regarding Trump, Evans said he has been aware of hick s “playboy antics” and “racist behavior” since the 1980s, he said.
“He has some intellect as far as business, but not as much on the outside as the inside,” he said.
Courting The Black Economy
A 2024 Voice & Viewpoint Black Voter Survey polled readers on their top issues when selecting a candidate. Results show that, along with racial justice and civil rights, the economy remains a top priority.
For Black men specifically, this survey mirrors data from the NAACP voter study in August, which shows the economy as a top issue for 82% of Black men.
“I don’t think they are leaving the Democratic Party because they hate Democrats, but right now the situation is very real,” said Thornton. “It’s always economics. Economics is the first law of survival of the modern world,” said Evans.
Olmos agrees. “I can look back and be like, yeah, things were cheaper during Trump’s presidency,” he said.
To stem the shift away from Democrats, the Harris campaign has stepped up her appeal to Black male voters. She unveiled her “opportunity agenda” for Black men on Oct.14, which aims to boost financial freedom and opportunity.
And to shore up voter turnout ahead of November 5, Obama visited Harris’s Pennsylvania campaign headquarters and made stern remarks directed at Black men. He noted a lack of energy for Harris that “seems more pronounced with the brothers.”
He said to the group, “You have a “clear choice,” between “somebody who grew up like you, knows you, understands the struggle and the pain,” he said. “And on the other side you have someone who has consistently shown disregard, not just for your communities, but for you as a person, and you’re thinking about sitting out?”
When Obama ran for president in 2008, 95% of Black voters supported him, according to the Pew Research Center. analysis.
Obama’s comments are aimed at Black men who are thinking of not participating in this election, or are leaning towards supporting Trump.
“I know that Mr. President Obama thinks that we should vote for Harris and keep the Black vote within the Black race,” said a 36-year-old safety manager from Southeast San Diego who prefers to remain anonymous. However he supports Trump due to his work in expanding job opportunities for construction workers. “I don’t have enough information to say that my one vote matters, so is it really going to make or break if I vote for Trump –my one vote – for him to win?” he said.
Like Obama, Cliff Albright with the Black Voters Matter Project is working nationwide this election season to energize Black voters across genders. Co-founder of BVM, Albright built his career on bringing financial resources to Alabama’s blackbelt region, and is an author, podcast host, and Africana studies instructor.
Traveling around in the “Blackest Bus in America” with BVM, Albright highlights the challenge of mobilizing voters to “move in a way which does not invalidate their lived experiences, but provides more information to make [their decision] complete.”
“Regardless of what position they’re taking, it is based on different aspects of their lived experience,” said Albright. “The bigger question is, are there some men that have been so discouraged, largely by disinformation, that they just don’t want to participate at all?”
Black Americans account for 14% of eligible voters this November. So far in the state of California, about 140,00 early mail ballots have been returned from Black voters.
To learn more about local, state, and national elections, visit Voice & Viewpoint’s Voting Guide.
