Speaker 1: We do have new pulling data out from the NAACP
Speaker 1: which actually finds that Donald Trump support among Black men
Speaker 1: under the age of fifty is dwindling, dropping from twenty
Speaker 1: seven percent when they asked the same question in a
Speaker 1: survey last month to now twenty one percent. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: Kamala Harris's support among this block has jumped from fifty
Speaker 1: one percent to fifty nine percent over that same timeframe.
Speaker 1: So for more on what's really going on here with
Speaker 1: this important demographic, we turn to Derek Johnson, the president
Speaker 1: of the NAACP. Thank you so much for being with
Speaker 1: us here on Bloomberg TV and Radio. There's just a
Speaker 1: week left to go to change the minds of black men,
Speaker 1: of black voters in general. What are you seeing in
Speaker 1: real time.
Speaker 2: Well, it is the trend of what happens during this
Speaker 2: stage of election cycle. After Labor Day, people slowly begin
Speaker 2: to pick more attention to average vulner nicols. We get
Speaker 2: to the election day, we are finding, as we've always
Speaker 2: found that as people pay attention to educate themselves around
Speaker 2: what's important, this election isn't about the individual candidates.
Speaker 3: It's not even about the political parties. It's about the
Speaker 3: public policy priorities, and the more young.
Speaker 2: African American voters, particularly those who are under fifty, get
Speaker 2: factual information about what's at stake, we begin to see
Speaker 2: a shift, a gradual shift towards Vice President Harris. It
Speaker 2: was to be expected because during this period of time,
Speaker 2: this is what always happened. But it's really important that
Speaker 2: those voters are spoken with, they listened to, and they
Speaker 2: as they understand the value and the portance of their vote.
Speaker 4: Director Johnson, it's good to have you back on Bloomberg
Speaker 4: TV and radio. You know, the narrative that we heard
Speaker 4: over the summer to your point before Labor Day, although
Speaker 4: a little bit after the story was that young men
Speaker 4: of color were gravitating toward Donald Trump, that this is
Speaker 4: a Republican nominee that was accomplishing something that the GOP
Speaker 4: was not used to making in ruads with the community
Speaker 4: that was typically not favorable to the Republican candidate or
Speaker 4: the nominee in this case. Does he deserve some credit
Speaker 4: as a Republican for crossing those lines to break through
Speaker 4: with young black men.
Speaker 2: Well in Benniti, your question is if that was a
Speaker 2: factual statement I have heard over the last five election
Speaker 2: cycles about this drifting of core Democratic voters in one
Speaker 2: direction as a result of some strategy from the Republican Party.
Speaker 2: I recall hearing it in two thousand and two thousand
Speaker 2: and four. It's the Latino community, or can recall hearing
Speaker 2: some of the same narrative.
Speaker 3: Around the American community broadly.
Speaker 2: Speaking, particularly twenty twelve and twenty sixteen, especially twenty sixteen.
Speaker 2: And so that's a narrative that's great for media consumption,
Speaker 2: but I have yet to find any factual basis.
Speaker 3: For much of the narrative.
Speaker 2: The poem we did is a random sample, and originally
Speaker 2: it was a question around voters under few African Americans
Speaker 2: who failed, no one was speaking to them.
Speaker 3: They are not being heard and the ones of their vote.
Speaker 3: But as you.
Speaker 2: Close the timeline passed Labor Day, as voters are spoken to,
Speaker 2: they are being heard and they understand the impact and
Speaker 2: importance of their vote as relates to the public policy
Speaker 2: issues that are on the table, we begin to see
Speaker 2: the natural shift as we have identified in our pole,
Speaker 2: and oppolling is only a snap shot in time.
Speaker 3: This was early October.
Speaker 2: Now we've analyzed the pole considering what happened last week
Speaker 2: and particularly Sunday, there's even a greater shift I will
Speaker 2: predict well.
Speaker 1: As you allude to Sunday, there obviously were a number
Speaker 1: of racist remarks made at the Madison Square Garden rally
Speaker 1: for Donald Trump, not necessarily by the former president, but
Speaker 1: by many of those who spoke before him. What do
Speaker 1: you make of where we are rhetorically right now, Derek,
Speaker 1: and what the signals about the way the country can
Speaker 1: move forward toward the advancement of all people, colored people included.
Speaker 2: Well, we've gone from the loss of stability in our
Speaker 2: public discorce around vible candidates to the laws of supporting
Speaker 2: the importance of democracy.
Speaker 3: What we witnessed on Sunday was a show of fascists.
Speaker 5: You know, I just completed Robert Carroll's book on LBJ
Speaker 5: and he talks about the Nazi gathering in the thirties
Speaker 5: as a backlash of the New Deal policies.
Speaker 2: And what he describes in his book and what I
Speaker 2: see that took place in matters since where gardens is
Speaker 2: very similar.
Speaker 3: You talking about appealing.
Speaker 2: To the lowest comedy nominator around the racial construct and
Speaker 2: ethnic background across the board. That has nothing to do
Speaker 2: with strengthening our democracy or the traditional debate around the
Speaker 2: role of government and taxi that is about creating a
Speaker 2: space of other whole communities and dehumanizing people than joke.
Speaker 4: What's interesting we heard from jd Vance, of course Donald
Speaker 4: Trump's running mate on this, and he is obviously taking
Speaker 4: a different tact than you are in this case, Director Johnson.
Speaker 4: We're just getting this ready because he was asked about
Speaker 4: it and spoke to some of the offensive rhetoric that
Speaker 4: we heard at Madison Square Garden, remembering that he was there.
Speaker 4: He had a speaking role in this five hour rally,
Speaker 4: and even though he claims he didn't hear this joke,
Speaker 4: he reacted to the overall criticism.
Speaker 6: Here he is and my own view on this is,
Speaker 6: look again, I haven't seen the joke. You know, maybe
Speaker 6: it's a stupid racist joke, as you said, maybe it's not.
Speaker 3: I haven't seen it.
Speaker 6: I'm not going to comment on the specifics of the joke,
Speaker 6: but I think that we have to stop getting so
Speaker 6: offended at every little thing in the United States of America.
Speaker 6: I'm just I'm so over it.
Speaker 4: Just want you to react to that, Derek Johnson, that
Speaker 4: were too easily offended at every little thing in the
Speaker 4: United States of America.
Speaker 2: Deny its existence, diminish its impact, pivot back to the message,
Speaker 2: and then carry on with the message of other rising individuals,
Speaker 2: the meaning communities and trying to create a space where
Speaker 2: white supremacy exists. It was the same thing doing the
Speaker 2: debate that you use three strategic tactics. You call out xenophobia,
Speaker 2: they're taking our jobs, You put a racialized liss on it,
Speaker 2: those Haitians, and then you create a reality where you
Speaker 2: say these individuals are not even human by saying they're
Speaker 2: eating our dogs and cats. It's a strategy that's tried
Speaker 2: and true, where you otherise communities to try to prop
Speaker 2: up and motivate a base to vote against all of
Speaker 2: these impending, not sub human individuals who are taking something
Speaker 2: from us. And then when you get caught in that
Speaker 2: you denied existing, you try to marginalize its impact, and
Speaker 2: then you pivot back to their message.
Speaker 1: So that's the messaging we're hearing from one side, Derek.
Speaker 1: We'll hear more messaging the closing argument as it's being
Speaker 1: built from Kamala Harris tonight at the Ellipse here in Washington.
Speaker 1: What does she need to say to black voters.
Speaker 3: Well, I don't think it's one side versus the other
Speaker 3: side of this kind.
Speaker 2: This is those who support democracy and celebrate the diversity
Speaker 2: that we have wrong into being. You know, I recall
Speaker 2: being in school that we talked about America is a
Speaker 2: mixing pot and it brings in ethnic groups and racial
Speaker 2: diversity from around the globe. Even President, former President Reagan
Speaker 2: talked about that we celebrate our diversity, that you could
Speaker 2: be Eastern European, you can be a Catholic or Jewish.
Speaker 3: But once you've become an American and citizens, we're all America.
Speaker 3: And that was nineteen eighty the nineteen eighty's Ronald Reagan.
Speaker 2: Unlike anyone else, they say this is the leader of
Speaker 2: the party. He's the Shinaga example, and they have the
Speaker 2: party so far from that example. This evening, I would
Speaker 2: only think that the Vice President will speak to all
Speaker 2: Americans to talk about the strength about democracy, the need
Speaker 2: to protect our democracy as we look forward to a
Speaker 2: future that's inclusive, productive, and continue to lead this globe
Speaker 2: as the leading democracy and doing so without tearing anybody
Speaker 2: down and maligning any particular individual or community.
Speaker 4: We've only got about thirty seconds left, sir, will Kamala
Speaker 4: Harris enjoyed the same level of support from Black Americans
Speaker 4: that Joe Biden did in twenty twenty.
Speaker 2: I believe that Americans would turn out to the polls,
Speaker 2: especially Black Americans, to support what could potentially be the
Speaker 2: first African and East Asian president female of this country.
Speaker 4: Appreciate your sharing the new polling info with us. Stay
Speaker 4: in touch with us. Derek Johnson, of course, President CEO
Speaker 4: of the NAACP