Two key voting groups critical to President Biden’s victories in the 2020 Democrat primaries and in the November presidential election appear to be slipping away from him. According to polling numbers, there has been slippage in Biden’s minority numbers since taking office. They are a contributing factor to the President’s overall low favorability rating — which is languishing in the mid-30s percentile.
In the past, Democrat candidates could generally count on a black vote in excess of 85 percent and a Hispanic vote above 70 percent. A compilation of polling data since Biden’s inauguration show significant slippage among black voters – with slightly improving numbers in recent months.
Biden began his tenure in office with an approval rating among blacks in the 80 to 83 percent approval rating. That fell to a record low of 58 percent in June of 2022. It has since moved up to the 70 percent range – still significantly below the traditional support Democrats receive from black voters.
In terms of Hispanic support, Biden started his presidency with a 68 percent approval rating. It plunged to 43 percent in July of 2022 and has lingered in that range since. A Hispanic approval rating for a Democrat President below 50 percent is virtually unprecedented in modern years.
From Spring of 2021 to Spring of 2023, Biden’s approval rating among black and Hispanic voters dropped 13 points. The Spring of 2021 is significant because that was the time that Biden’s overall approval rating went below 50 percent – where it has remained for the past 15 months.
In a New York Times/Siena poll, Biden’s support from minority voters without a college education dropped to under 50 percent. In 2020, Biden had a 48-point lead over Trump among non-white voters. It is now 49 to 33 – a drop of 16 points.
The handling of the economy appears to be a major influence in Biden’s decline in minority support according to Quinnipiac polls. At Biden’s low point in minority support in mid-2022, Hispanic approval of his handling the economy had dropped to 24 percent. Black approval of Biden’s handling of the economy was 49 percent. He still trails Trump in handling the economy.
The soaring crime rates – especially in the segregated communities in the major urban cities – is a second factor in the decline of Biden’s favorability among blacks and Hispanics. Ironically, at the time blacks are concerned about the street crimes – drug related and otherwise – they still have issues with racial inequality and police harassment in law enforcement – especially in low level criminal activity or no criminal activity at all.
In the Hispanic community, the security of the southern border is an issue. Democrats seem to have assumed that since most of the illegal border crosses were Hispanic, there would be a general sympathy for the migrants. This has not been the case because too many of the migrants are engaged in drug trafficking, sex trafficking and gang related crimes – and they tend to locate their criminal enterprises within the Hispanic communities.
Neither the black nor the Hispanic community are monolithic in their vote – and less now than ever. Other issues play subordinate roles, including social, cultural, and so-called woke issues. Virtually all the gender bending issues have less support in minority communities than they do among progressive white Democrat voters.
For whatever the reasons, it is clear that Biden has a problem with a significant portion of the Democrat base – the blacks and Hispanics. It is one of the reasons that the best Biden can do these days is stay even with Trump in the head-to-head polling – and that is not good news for the incumbent President.
So, there ‘tis.