Strategists Say Elizabeth Warren Is Struggling to Appeal to Black Voters

Sen. Elizabeth Warren is struggling to gain momentum among black voters despite her steady rise in national polls, strategists say.

According to a report from the Hill, Democrat strategists say Warren is struggling to win the support of black voters. Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) appears to be holding on to the bulk of black support, particularly in South Carolina, despite his history of racial gaffes. A Post and Courier poll taken August 9–12 showed Biden with 36 percent support in the Palmetto State – 19 points ahead of Warren. A Monmouth University poll released last month told a similar story.

As Breitbart News reported:

South Carolina is considered one of the most important states in the early nominating contest because of its position on the primary calendar, right before Super Tuesday, and its heavily African American electorate.

The results show Biden taking first place with 39 percent — an advantage of 27 points over his nearest challenger — when polled against the rest of the field. Far behind in second place was Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) with 12 percent. Closely trailing Harris, albeit within the margin of error, were Sens. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) at ten and nine percent, respectively. South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg lodged in fifth place with five percent. Surprisingly, the poll found billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer, a recent addition to the race, tied with Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) at two percent. The rest of candidates polled at either one percent or lower.

An Economist/YouGov poll released this week showed 35 percent of black voters finding Biden “very favorable,” 29 percent finding Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) “very favorable,” and 27 percent saying the same of Warren. However, a recent Fox News poll showed Warren gaining only eight percent support from black voters– far behind Sanders, who garnered 18 percent support. It is something strategists see as a problem.

“We definitely need to do better there,” a Warren ally said, according to the Hill. “We can’t win without support from the black community. Period.”

As the Hill reported:

“We talk a lot about Biden’s support among working-class white voters, but his appeal to working-class black voters is underestimated,” said Democratic strategist Basil Smikle, who served as the executive director of the New York State Democratic Party.

“Their lack of familiarity with Warren, as well as her own brand of disruptive politics, may not clearly explicate a path to political and economic power for older, more moderate African Americans,” added Smikle.

Warren’s rebranding of progressivism does not tend to resonate with older black voters, critics say.

“If [Warren] is going to be successful in the South, she’ll really have to develop an infrastructure that is going to hit those critical areas and get her name and message out there, and she’s got to be able to plug into those relationships and build it organically,” Clemmie Harris, assistant professor of American history and Africana studies at Utica College, told the Hill.

Warren stumped in South Carolina over the weekend in hopes of loosening Biden’s stronghold in the state. She spoke at the Reid Chapel AME Church Sunday and “adjusted her rhetoric” in an apparent attempt to better resonate with the congregation.

As the Washington Post reported:

Rather than her usual firebrand stemwinder, she talked about her hardscrabble biography, including an anecdote about how she once struggled to control an unruly fifth-grade Sunday school class.

“They cut each others’ hair during the art project,” Warren said, adding touch of Southern cadence to her voice. “Oh! They spilled things on each others’ clothes. It was wild. The boys climbed out the window.”

Unlike Democrat political strategists, Rev. Miniard Culpepper, the Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church pastor who has been described as Warren’s “spiritual adviser,” does not seem worried about Warren’s ability to connect with the black electorate.

“She’s just hitting her stride,” he said, according to the Post.