Roland Martin to Biden aide: Biden/Harris/Dems MUST EXCLUSIVELY speak to BLACK MEN DIRECTLY! - ASAP!
- Thread starter ☑︎#VoteDemocrat
- Start date
so the two who have worked very hard to put Black men in jail, now want to help us?
It is what it isso the two who have worked very hard to put Black men in jail, now want to help us?
More than 37,000 Black North Carolina voters have switched to 'unaffiliated' since 2016 election
More than 37,000 Black North Carolina voters have switched to 'unaffiliated' since 2016 election
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Tiffany Pass from Person County has been a registered unaffiliated voter for nearly 20 years.
"I love it because I don't have to vote straight Republican or straight Democratic. And I can just get a feel for each candidate," said Pass, who is African American.
On Tuesday, the State Board of Elections released new numbers showing that since the 2016 election, a large number of Black voters have stopped identifying as Democrat. More than 37,000 are now registered as "unaffiliated."
RELATED: More than 500K votes now officially cast in North Carolina
"That's a lot. It's about choice," Pass said.
Pass' choice is most evident during an election primary where she will get to choose a Republican or Democratic ballot.
In a general election, voters may vote for the candidate of their choice, regardless of party.
Political experts said the numbers are not surprising.
"It's also part of a broader pattern that we're seeing in North Carolina and in fact throughout the country," said Andrew Taylor, professor of political science at NC State University. "Voters are increasingly not affiliating with political parties."
Since the 2016 election, more than 123,000 former North Carolina Democrats are now registered "unaffiliated." More than 95,000 Republicans have made the switch.
RELATED: Which district votes the least in North Carolina?
There's also a sense that partisanship and polarization are unattractive terms.
"I'm an independent person with my own thoughts and beliefs and I'm going to vote however I want. And that's a way of showing the world that you are like that," said Taylor.
New conservative groups like Blexit, also known as Black Exit from the Democratic Party, said the numbers were a positive sign.
The group showed up in droves to President Trump's first rally since his COVID-19 diagnosis. Antoine Thomas. a leader in the North Carolina Blexit chapter, was in attendance.
"This is a pivotal time. And that's what Blexit stands for. We believe in free thinking," Thomas said.
People who want to register to vote can do so during One Stop Early Voting, which begins Thursday. To find the early voting site closest to you click here.
QUESTIONS ABOUT VOTING IN NORTH CAROLINA IN 2020? VIEW OUR ELECTION GUIDE: For a better experience on the App, click here to see the experience on its own page
ASK US: What are your voting concerns or questions as Election Day approaches?
Report a correction or typo
More than 37,000 Black North Carolina voters have switched to 'unaffiliated' since 2016 election
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Tiffany Pass from Person County has been a registered unaffiliated voter for nearly 20 years.
"I love it because I don't have to vote straight Republican or straight Democratic. And I can just get a feel for each candidate," said Pass, who is African American.
On Tuesday, the State Board of Elections released new numbers showing that since the 2016 election, a large number of Black voters have stopped identifying as Democrat. More than 37,000 are now registered as "unaffiliated."
RELATED: More than 500K votes now officially cast in North Carolina
"That's a lot. It's about choice," Pass said.
Pass' choice is most evident during an election primary where she will get to choose a Republican or Democratic ballot.
In a general election, voters may vote for the candidate of their choice, regardless of party.
Political experts said the numbers are not surprising.
"It's also part of a broader pattern that we're seeing in North Carolina and in fact throughout the country," said Andrew Taylor, professor of political science at NC State University. "Voters are increasingly not affiliating with political parties."
Since the 2016 election, more than 123,000 former North Carolina Democrats are now registered "unaffiliated." More than 95,000 Republicans have made the switch.
RELATED: Which district votes the least in North Carolina?
There's also a sense that partisanship and polarization are unattractive terms.
"I'm an independent person with my own thoughts and beliefs and I'm going to vote however I want. And that's a way of showing the world that you are like that," said Taylor.
New conservative groups like Blexit, also known as Black Exit from the Democratic Party, said the numbers were a positive sign.
The group showed up in droves to President Trump's first rally since his COVID-19 diagnosis. Antoine Thomas. a leader in the North Carolina Blexit chapter, was in attendance.
"This is a pivotal time. And that's what Blexit stands for. We believe in free thinking," Thomas said.
People who want to register to vote can do so during One Stop Early Voting, which begins Thursday. To find the early voting site closest to you click here.
QUESTIONS ABOUT VOTING IN NORTH CAROLINA IN 2020? VIEW OUR ELECTION GUIDE: For a better experience on the App, click here to see the experience on its own page
ASK US: What are your voting concerns or questions as Election Day approaches?
Report a correction or typo
bloomberg.com
Biden Aides See Warning Signs in Black, Latino Turnout So Far
By Tyler Pager
7-9 minutes
Senior officials on Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s campaign are increasingly worried about insufficient Black and Latino voter turnout in key states like Florida and Pennsylvania with only four days until the election, according to people familiar with the matter.
Despite record early-vote turnout around the country, there are warning signs for Biden. In Arizona, two-thirds of Latino registered voters have not yet cast a ballot. In Florida, half of Latino and Black registered voters have not yet voted but more than half of White voters have cast ballots, according to data from Catalist, a Democratic data firm. In Pennsylvania, nearly 75% of registered Black voters have not yet voted, the data shows.
The firm’s analysis of early vote numbers also show a surge of non-college educated White voters, who largely back President Donald Trump, compared to voters of color, who overwhelmingly support Biden.
The situation is particularly stark in Florida where Republicans currently have a 9.4% turnout advantage in Miami-Dade County, a place where analysts say Biden will need a significant margin of victory to carry the state.
“I would like to see turnout increase – and yes, we need improvement,” Steve Schale, the president of Unite the Country, a pro-Biden super PAC, wrote in a blog post on Tuesday about Miami-Dade County early vote numbers.
Top campaign leaders have expressed confidence that Black and Latino voters will show up on Election Day - and historical trends suggest these groups often do prefer to vote in person. But some Biden advisers have expressed concerns about a lack of investment and are urging the campaign, so far unsuccessfully, to spend even more money to target these voters in the final stretch, especially given the campaign’s record-shattering fundraising.
Biden’s campaign disputed that these voter turnout efforts are being short-changed.
“No campaign in American history has devoted this level of resources that we have to outreach to voters of color, and we’re deeply proud of it,” Symone Sanders, one of the campaign’s most senior African-American advisers, said in a statement. “In community-specific advertising alone, we’ve dedicated tens of millions of dollars to each community, with a total into 9 figures. And we’ve committed tens of millions on in-person GOTV programs unique to communities of color. Earning the support of diverse voters is the beating heart of our operation. We’re also the most diverse general election campaign in American history, including at senior levels, and all of our strategic decisions are driven by our diverse leadership team.”
Disagreements over how to allocate precious resources in the closing days are a common occurrence in a presidential campaign, but what has made these disputes, which have not been previously reported, more serious is that the split has broken along racial lines.
Read more: Trump talks up AMLO ties in Latino outreach
Some of those advocating for more spending -- who are largely people of color and say they feel that their communities are misunderstood by top Biden officials -- sent multiple written proposals over the course of several months, including to National States Director Jenn Ridder and her staff, outlining ways the campaign could bolster minority turnout, the people familiar with the effort said. They say the documents were ignored by campaign leadership.
The disagreements have resulted in heated conversations, as staff argue over spending and strategy in the final stretch. And the advisers who say they are frustrated still say they’re confident Biden will win the election, but they fear leaving anything to chance if the race is close.
These advisers are pushing for more resources dedicated to getting out the vote, including paid door-knocking, paid phone banking and paid text messaging, according to the people familiar with the dispute.
As of Oct. 14, the Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee had a combined $331 million cash on hand, according to their most recent reports with the Federal Election Commission.
Both Biden and Trump campaigned in Florida on Thursday, with Biden holding drive-in rallies in Broward County and in Tampa. Trump also held a rally in Tampa.
Yet a Biden campaign staff member in Florida said coalition directors, those responsible for turning out the vote among specific demographic groups, have never been given a budget, despite repeated requests for funds they can allocate. The staffer said colleagues have spent their own money to put on voter engagement events, but the lack of coordination with senior leaders has stymied their efforts to do what the staff member called culturally competent outreach in critical parts of the state.
The Biden campaign said budget recommendations for outreach programs are led by the coalition teams and the senior advisers who oversee constituency outreach in conjunction with the states team.
On Thursday, the Biden campaign held a call with reporters to discuss its efforts to turn out Latino voters, where they touted spending tens of millions of dollars to reach voters and reviewed get-out-the-vote events in battleground states targeted at Latino voters.
“We know our pathway to victory includes winning key battleground states that have significant populations” of Latino voters, deputy campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez, said on the call. “We cannot win without the Latino vote in these states, which is why we have invested historic amounts of money and research.”
The call presented a united front from top leadership about its Latino get-out-of-the-vote efforts, but a person familiar with the planning said the call was designed to calm the nerves of prominent Latino Democrats, who have been raising concerns about the Biden campaign’s Latino outreach strategy. Behind the scenes, the person said, there is tension and infighting.
Democrats say Biden’s strength among other groups - namely seniors and suburbanites - will compensate for any drop-off in Latino support.
But some of the advisers say they fear the campaign is over-confident, especially after 2016 when voters of color did not turn out for Hillary Clinton in key cities like Philadelphia, Detroit and Milwaukee, which contributed to narrow losses in those states.
Biden has enjoyed strong support from Black voters, who saved his primary campaign with a blowout win in South Carolina followed by big victories on Super Tuesday in states that had large Black populations, making it more critical that these voters turn out.
Last edited:
78% black men with degrees voted for Hilary..
82% without voted for Hillary..
Whats up with the "intellectuals" voting for Trump?
I dare you to make a separate post about these numbers..
"unaffiliated" doesn't mean Trump.
Why are people thinking this shyt is a game?
Conservative media says Trump's black male numbers are higher than the mainstream media claims:
Conservative media says Trump's black male numbers are higher than the mainstream media claims:
We have a big fukking problem that Democrats need to fix in these next few years. ASAP. 
Can Trump Woo Enough Black Men to Hurt Biden in Battleground States?
Can Trump Woo Enough Black Men to Hurt Biden in Battleground States?
On the ground and in TV ads, the candidates are in an intense and surprising battle for Black male voters, who are crucial for Democrats trying to win back Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
City officials and attendees gathered in Philadelphia for National Poll Worker Recruitment Day.Mark Makela for The New York Times
DETROIT — Four years after an election that came down to Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, the campaigns of Joseph R. Biden Jr. and President Trump are waging an intense and surprising battle in those states for votes among a crucial demographic: Black men.
The outreach is vital for Democrats, who lost the three industrial states in 2016 partly because of diminished support from Black voters. They worry that not enough Black men will cast ballots — or that Mr. Trump might make enough marginal gains to help in close races.
The Biden campaign is now heavily focused on getting Black men to turn out to vote: Mr. Biden and former President Barack Obama are campaigning together for the first time this year on Saturday in Detroit and Flint, Mich. Mr. Biden is also running a series of ads featuring young Black men from Flint, tying local issues to the election. One walks through the history of Black voter suppression; another starts with Mr. Biden saying “Black Lives Matter, period.”
In Philadelphia, where Hillary Clinton had strong but not surging support from Black voters in 2016, the Biden camp also deployed Mr. Obama for a day of campaigning, sent Senator Cory Booker to Sunday round tables in the city’s northern neighborhoods, and relied on leaders like Sharif Street, a state senator and the son of former Mayor John F. Street, to canvass neighborhoods multiple times.
The Trump strategy has aimed to erode Mr. Biden’s support with a negative campaign. One television ad replays Mr. Biden’s controversial “you ain’t Black” comment, in which he questioned how Black Americans could support Mr. Trump, and reprises his role in the 1994 crime bill. A set of 40 digital ads claiming “Joe Biden Insulted Millions of Black Americans” has been running across the country for the past week.
The battle for Black men is one of the more surprising developments in a race that has been defined by the monthslong stable lead of Mr. Biden over Mr. Trump in many polls. Republicans are making a concerted push to cut into the Democrats’ base of Black support in battleground states, as well as drive up their own numbers of Latino voters, and some polling suggests the effort has been moderately successful.
Mr. Biden held a 78-11 percentage point lead among Black men in a recent national poll from The New York Times and Siena College, a comparatively weak number for a Democratic nominee whose ticket includes the first Black woman selected as vice president. (Many undecided Black voters are widely expected to vote Democratic, though a number could well stay home.)
Mr. Trump won roughly 13 percent of Black male voters in 2016, according to exit polls; some Trump advisers are aiming to get closer to 20 percent next week.
Among some Black men, there is a belief that Mr. Biden carries similar baggage to Mrs. Clinton: a policy history that includes helping pass legislation that contributed to large increases in Black prison populations, and a party history in which they feel Democratic candidates are more concerned with winning Black voters than improving the conditions of Black communities.
Demery Charleston, a 42-year-old who lives in a suburb of Detroit called Harper Woods, said he was voting for Republicans because he believed they spoke out more forcefully against violence within Black communities and the incidents of looting that occurred during a summer of protests.
“I’m talking about the real Detroit. I don’t see these protesters marching in these neighborhoods,” Mr. Charleston said. “A 7-year-old girl gets shot in the neighborhood, and there’s nothing. It’s real hypocrisy,” he added, referring to a girl who was shot by someone driving by her Detroit home in May.
Mr. Obama, for one, tried to respond to such criticism of Democrats by delivering a direct message to Black men at a recent event in Philadelphia: Don’t get cynical.
Former President Barack Obama speaking at a drive-in rally in Philadelphia.Kriston Jae Bethel for The New York Times
“What I’ve consistently tried to communicate this year, particularly when I’m talking to young brothers, who may be cynical of what can happen, is to acknowledge to them that government and voting alone is not going to change everything,” Mr. Obama said. “But we did make things better.”
To understand why some Black men would be drawn to a president who has expressed racist sentiments, stoked white grievances for political gain and was the political face of the birther lie against America’s first Black president, is to grapple with the complexity of the Black experience. In interviews with more than two dozen Black men across swing states, including Florida, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, they described voting rationales as a complex web of race, gender and socioeconomic status — with policy concerns like health care, immigration and the coronavirus pandemic.
Todd Holden, who joined an hourslong line on the final day of early voting in Philadelphia, said he was primarily driven to vote against Mr. Trump, but he was also drawn to Mr. Biden’s promise to act on climate change.
“Biden and Harris have a huge climate change platform which is big,” Mr. Holden, 29, said. “From 2016, up until this point, it’s seemed almost like a mission to roll back everything Obama has done with the environment.”
Several Black men, including ones backing Mr. Trump, said voting was a means to an end: a determination on how best to work a system that has not historically prioritized Black advancement.
“We’ve been voting for Democrats for 50 and 60 years and no progress,” said Marco Bisbee, who attended Mr. Trump’s recent rally in Lansing, Mich., along with his 13-year-old son, Quavion. “Y’all had eight years of a Black man as president — he ain’t give you what you need.”
Mr. Bisbee, one of the few Black men at the rally, voted for Mrs. Clinton in 2016 but now plans to vote for Mr. Trump. He decided to support Republicans after what he described as unfair treatment of Brett Kavanaugh, Mr. Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, who was accused of sexual assault during his confirmation hearings.
President Trump during a campaign rally at the Capital Region International Airport in Lansing, Mich.Doug Mills/The New York Times
Hakim Rahman, a 23-year-old from Philadelphia, said his disillusionment with Democrats began soon after he voted for Mrs. Clinton in 2016, when he grew frustrated with what he felt was unfair pressure put on Black voters to vote Democratic.
“Just seeing Joe Biden saying ‘you ain’t Black,’ it’s exposing that the Democrats feel entitled to the Black vote,” said Mr. Rahman, as he waited in a nearly two-hour line to vote early outside City Hall. He decried what he viewed as a distorted media portrayal of Mr. Trump as a racist, and said that efforts like the bipartisan criminal justice bill signed by Mr. Trump and economic opportunity zones had helped Black Americans.
Make no mistake: Democrats are likely to win an overwhelming share of Black votes, and the vast majority of votes from Black men. Mr. Trump’s efforts — whether it’s showcasing Black speakers at the Republican National Convention, highlighting endorsements from Black rappers like Lil Wayne and Ice Cube, or emphasizing his support for historically Black colleges and universities — are attempts to cut into Mr. Biden’s share of Black voters.
In the Philadelphia region, that G.O.P. effort strikes a nerve. In 2016, the overall turnout in the predominantly Black neighborhoods of north and northwest Philadelphia was down compared with 2012, even as late campaign events featuring Mrs. Clinton drew huge crowds.
Congressman Dwight Evans of Pennsylvania’s Third Congressional District spoke to grocery store patrons in Philadelphia.Mark Makela for The New York Times
For the past few weekends, Representative Dwight Evans, whose district includes north Philadelphia, has driven a caravan of cars around the neighborhoods, with placards declaring “Black Voters Win Elections” duct taped to the sides, making pit stops in grocery plazas to talk to voters and pass out literature, reminding them that the neighborhoods were once food deserts until Democrats fought for changes.
“Remember when Trump said, particularly to the Black community, in August of 2016, ‘What the hell do you have to lose?’ Well, you could lose this building, these blocks,” Mr. Evans said, standing in the parking lot of a ShopRite off Fox Street.
Mr. Street, who is vice chair of the state Democratic Party, canvassed recently in Chester, a majority Black city in Delaware County, just outside Philadelphia. He knocked on doors with John Kane, a white plumber running for State Senate, on a block that had low turnout in the last election.
To Mr. Street, the battle was less about convincing Black voters in this city to vote for Democrats. It was simply convincing them to turn out.
State Senator Sharif Street, left, canvassed with John Kane, a candidate for the Pennsylvania State Senate, in Chester, Pa.Mark Makela for The New York Times
“These folks that we convinced today by showing up, for the Black and brown community, it’s not Trump or Biden,” Mr. Street said as he made a second lap down 8th Street. “It’s voting for the Democrats or staying at home.”
Election experts and forecasters said there was little chance Mr. Trump’s inroads with Black men could swing a state election outcome unless he also attracted more suburban voters, seniors and college-educated whites.
The Trump efforts have also inspired some backlash.
“All the Black radio stations I’m calling into, we get to kind of a conversation where people feel deeply offended that there’s an active effort to suppress their vote or create obstacles for them voting,” said Mr. Booker, the New Jersey senator.
In Wisconsin, Democrats are seeking to energize the Black men in Milwaukee who may have sat out the last election — while holding on to white voters in other parts of the state. Even among more progressive men, who did not see Mr. Biden as their top choice in the Democratic primary, there was a sense that ousting Mr. Trump was the first step to seeing real change.
Throughout Michigan, a state Mr. Trump narrowly won in 2016 but is trailing by several points now, some voters said a key to Black turnout was whether younger Black men got involved.
John James speaking during a veterans fund-raising event in Grand Rapids, Mich.Emily Elconin for The New York Times
Darren Mosley, a 54-year-old Detroit resident who attended an event with Senator Gary Peters this week, said Democrats made reaching young voters harder, but not impossible, by nominating an older candidate.
“We need some young blood,” Mr. Mosley said. “Look at the age of senators and people in office. They don’t have young minds. We need younger thinking so we can move forward and keep young voters encouraged.”
For some Black male voters, their argument for Mr. Biden at this point was one of harm reduction — that supporting Democrats would lower the chances of life getting worse, even if it didn’t ensure that everything would become better. But that was a calculation rejected by Mr. Bisbee, the man who brought his son to Mr. Trump’s rally in Lansing.
Asked about some of the president’s most controversial comments about race, including using profanity to describe some African countries, Mr. Bisbee dismissed it.
“Was he not telling the truth?” he responded.
But even he had limits to his support. He laughed when asked whether he thought the president was a role model.
“I wouldn’t go that far,” he said. “But we elected him to do a job.”
He and his teenage son then walked into the rally.
@Red Shield @Michael's Black Son @Sukairain @YouMadd? @Basil of Baker Street @SupremexKing @Cat piss martini @AndroidHero @Pirius Black @panopticon @johnedwarduado @neotheflyingone @Ishlibidish23 @SJUGRAD13 @BlueHeffner
Can Trump Woo Enough Black Men to Hurt Biden in Battleground States?
Can Trump Woo Enough Black Men to Hurt Biden in Battleground States?
On the ground and in TV ads, the candidates are in an intense and surprising battle for Black male voters, who are crucial for Democrats trying to win back Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
City officials and attendees gathered in Philadelphia for National Poll Worker Recruitment Day.Mark Makela for The New York Times
DETROIT — Four years after an election that came down to Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, the campaigns of Joseph R. Biden Jr. and President Trump are waging an intense and surprising battle in those states for votes among a crucial demographic: Black men.
The outreach is vital for Democrats, who lost the three industrial states in 2016 partly because of diminished support from Black voters. They worry that not enough Black men will cast ballots — or that Mr. Trump might make enough marginal gains to help in close races.
The Biden campaign is now heavily focused on getting Black men to turn out to vote: Mr. Biden and former President Barack Obama are campaigning together for the first time this year on Saturday in Detroit and Flint, Mich. Mr. Biden is also running a series of ads featuring young Black men from Flint, tying local issues to the election. One walks through the history of Black voter suppression; another starts with Mr. Biden saying “Black Lives Matter, period.”
In Philadelphia, where Hillary Clinton had strong but not surging support from Black voters in 2016, the Biden camp also deployed Mr. Obama for a day of campaigning, sent Senator Cory Booker to Sunday round tables in the city’s northern neighborhoods, and relied on leaders like Sharif Street, a state senator and the son of former Mayor John F. Street, to canvass neighborhoods multiple times.
The Trump strategy has aimed to erode Mr. Biden’s support with a negative campaign. One television ad replays Mr. Biden’s controversial “you ain’t Black” comment, in which he questioned how Black Americans could support Mr. Trump, and reprises his role in the 1994 crime bill. A set of 40 digital ads claiming “Joe Biden Insulted Millions of Black Americans” has been running across the country for the past week.
The battle for Black men is one of the more surprising developments in a race that has been defined by the monthslong stable lead of Mr. Biden over Mr. Trump in many polls. Republicans are making a concerted push to cut into the Democrats’ base of Black support in battleground states, as well as drive up their own numbers of Latino voters, and some polling suggests the effort has been moderately successful.
Mr. Biden held a 78-11 percentage point lead among Black men in a recent national poll from The New York Times and Siena College, a comparatively weak number for a Democratic nominee whose ticket includes the first Black woman selected as vice president. (Many undecided Black voters are widely expected to vote Democratic, though a number could well stay home.)
Mr. Trump won roughly 13 percent of Black male voters in 2016, according to exit polls; some Trump advisers are aiming to get closer to 20 percent next week.
Among some Black men, there is a belief that Mr. Biden carries similar baggage to Mrs. Clinton: a policy history that includes helping pass legislation that contributed to large increases in Black prison populations, and a party history in which they feel Democratic candidates are more concerned with winning Black voters than improving the conditions of Black communities.
Demery Charleston, a 42-year-old who lives in a suburb of Detroit called Harper Woods, said he was voting for Republicans because he believed they spoke out more forcefully against violence within Black communities and the incidents of looting that occurred during a summer of protests.
“I’m talking about the real Detroit. I don’t see these protesters marching in these neighborhoods,” Mr. Charleston said. “A 7-year-old girl gets shot in the neighborhood, and there’s nothing. It’s real hypocrisy,” he added, referring to a girl who was shot by someone driving by her Detroit home in May.
Mr. Obama, for one, tried to respond to such criticism of Democrats by delivering a direct message to Black men at a recent event in Philadelphia: Don’t get cynical.
Former President Barack Obama speaking at a drive-in rally in Philadelphia.Kriston Jae Bethel for The New York Times
“What I’ve consistently tried to communicate this year, particularly when I’m talking to young brothers, who may be cynical of what can happen, is to acknowledge to them that government and voting alone is not going to change everything,” Mr. Obama said. “But we did make things better.”
To understand why some Black men would be drawn to a president who has expressed racist sentiments, stoked white grievances for political gain and was the political face of the birther lie against America’s first Black president, is to grapple with the complexity of the Black experience. In interviews with more than two dozen Black men across swing states, including Florida, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, they described voting rationales as a complex web of race, gender and socioeconomic status — with policy concerns like health care, immigration and the coronavirus pandemic.
Todd Holden, who joined an hourslong line on the final day of early voting in Philadelphia, said he was primarily driven to vote against Mr. Trump, but he was also drawn to Mr. Biden’s promise to act on climate change.
“Biden and Harris have a huge climate change platform which is big,” Mr. Holden, 29, said. “From 2016, up until this point, it’s seemed almost like a mission to roll back everything Obama has done with the environment.”
Several Black men, including ones backing Mr. Trump, said voting was a means to an end: a determination on how best to work a system that has not historically prioritized Black advancement.
“We’ve been voting for Democrats for 50 and 60 years and no progress,” said Marco Bisbee, who attended Mr. Trump’s recent rally in Lansing, Mich., along with his 13-year-old son, Quavion. “Y’all had eight years of a Black man as president — he ain’t give you what you need.”
Mr. Bisbee, one of the few Black men at the rally, voted for Mrs. Clinton in 2016 but now plans to vote for Mr. Trump. He decided to support Republicans after what he described as unfair treatment of Brett Kavanaugh, Mr. Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, who was accused of sexual assault during his confirmation hearings.
President Trump during a campaign rally at the Capital Region International Airport in Lansing, Mich.Doug Mills/The New York Times
Hakim Rahman, a 23-year-old from Philadelphia, said his disillusionment with Democrats began soon after he voted for Mrs. Clinton in 2016, when he grew frustrated with what he felt was unfair pressure put on Black voters to vote Democratic.
“Just seeing Joe Biden saying ‘you ain’t Black,’ it’s exposing that the Democrats feel entitled to the Black vote,” said Mr. Rahman, as he waited in a nearly two-hour line to vote early outside City Hall. He decried what he viewed as a distorted media portrayal of Mr. Trump as a racist, and said that efforts like the bipartisan criminal justice bill signed by Mr. Trump and economic opportunity zones had helped Black Americans.
Make no mistake: Democrats are likely to win an overwhelming share of Black votes, and the vast majority of votes from Black men. Mr. Trump’s efforts — whether it’s showcasing Black speakers at the Republican National Convention, highlighting endorsements from Black rappers like Lil Wayne and Ice Cube, or emphasizing his support for historically Black colleges and universities — are attempts to cut into Mr. Biden’s share of Black voters.
In the Philadelphia region, that G.O.P. effort strikes a nerve. In 2016, the overall turnout in the predominantly Black neighborhoods of north and northwest Philadelphia was down compared with 2012, even as late campaign events featuring Mrs. Clinton drew huge crowds.
Congressman Dwight Evans of Pennsylvania’s Third Congressional District spoke to grocery store patrons in Philadelphia.Mark Makela for The New York Times
For the past few weekends, Representative Dwight Evans, whose district includes north Philadelphia, has driven a caravan of cars around the neighborhoods, with placards declaring “Black Voters Win Elections” duct taped to the sides, making pit stops in grocery plazas to talk to voters and pass out literature, reminding them that the neighborhoods were once food deserts until Democrats fought for changes.
“Remember when Trump said, particularly to the Black community, in August of 2016, ‘What the hell do you have to lose?’ Well, you could lose this building, these blocks,” Mr. Evans said, standing in the parking lot of a ShopRite off Fox Street.
Mr. Street, who is vice chair of the state Democratic Party, canvassed recently in Chester, a majority Black city in Delaware County, just outside Philadelphia. He knocked on doors with John Kane, a white plumber running for State Senate, on a block that had low turnout in the last election.
To Mr. Street, the battle was less about convincing Black voters in this city to vote for Democrats. It was simply convincing them to turn out.
State Senator Sharif Street, left, canvassed with John Kane, a candidate for the Pennsylvania State Senate, in Chester, Pa.Mark Makela for The New York Times
“These folks that we convinced today by showing up, for the Black and brown community, it’s not Trump or Biden,” Mr. Street said as he made a second lap down 8th Street. “It’s voting for the Democrats or staying at home.”
Election experts and forecasters said there was little chance Mr. Trump’s inroads with Black men could swing a state election outcome unless he also attracted more suburban voters, seniors and college-educated whites.
The Trump efforts have also inspired some backlash.
“All the Black radio stations I’m calling into, we get to kind of a conversation where people feel deeply offended that there’s an active effort to suppress their vote or create obstacles for them voting,” said Mr. Booker, the New Jersey senator.
In Wisconsin, Democrats are seeking to energize the Black men in Milwaukee who may have sat out the last election — while holding on to white voters in other parts of the state. Even among more progressive men, who did not see Mr. Biden as their top choice in the Democratic primary, there was a sense that ousting Mr. Trump was the first step to seeing real change.
Throughout Michigan, a state Mr. Trump narrowly won in 2016 but is trailing by several points now, some voters said a key to Black turnout was whether younger Black men got involved.
John James speaking during a veterans fund-raising event in Grand Rapids, Mich.Emily Elconin for The New York Times
Darren Mosley, a 54-year-old Detroit resident who attended an event with Senator Gary Peters this week, said Democrats made reaching young voters harder, but not impossible, by nominating an older candidate.
“We need some young blood,” Mr. Mosley said. “Look at the age of senators and people in office. They don’t have young minds. We need younger thinking so we can move forward and keep young voters encouraged.”
For some Black male voters, their argument for Mr. Biden at this point was one of harm reduction — that supporting Democrats would lower the chances of life getting worse, even if it didn’t ensure that everything would become better. But that was a calculation rejected by Mr. Bisbee, the man who brought his son to Mr. Trump’s rally in Lansing.
Asked about some of the president’s most controversial comments about race, including using profanity to describe some African countries, Mr. Bisbee dismissed it.
“Was he not telling the truth?” he responded.
But even he had limits to his support. He laughed when asked whether he thought the president was a role model.
“I wouldn’t go that far,” he said. “But we elected him to do a job.”
He and his teenage son then walked into the rally.
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