WEBVTT - NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson Talks US Presidential Election

0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:03.040
<v Speaker 1>We do have new pulling data out from the NAACP

0:00:03.520 --> 0:00:06.680
<v Speaker 1>which actually finds that Donald Trump support among Black men

0:00:06.960 --> 0:00:10.880
<v Speaker 1>under the age of fifty is dwindling, dropping from twenty

0:00:10.920 --> 0:00:13.640
<v Speaker 1>seven percent when they asked the same question in a

0:00:13.680 --> 0:00:16.600
<v Speaker 1>survey last month to now twenty one percent. In the meantime,

0:00:16.680 --> 0:00:20.280
<v Speaker 1>Kamala Harris's support among this block has jumped from fifty

0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:24.640
<v Speaker 1>one percent to fifty nine percent over that same timeframe.

0:00:24.680 --> 0:00:26.400
<v Speaker 1>So for more on what's really going on here with

0:00:26.440 --> 0:00:29.400
<v Speaker 1>this important demographic, we turn to Derek Johnson, the president

0:00:29.400 --> 0:00:32.479
<v Speaker 1>of the NAACP. Thank you so much for being with

0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:35.559
<v Speaker 1>us here on Bloomberg TV and Radio. There's just a

0:00:35.560 --> 0:00:38.400
<v Speaker 1>week left to go to change the minds of black men,

0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:41.000
<v Speaker 1>of black voters in general. What are you seeing in

0:00:41.040 --> 0:00:41.920
<v Speaker 1>real time.

0:00:42.720 --> 0:00:46.360
<v Speaker 2>Well, it is the trend of what happens during this

0:00:46.440 --> 0:00:50.240
<v Speaker 2>stage of election cycle. After Labor Day, people slowly begin

0:00:50.560 --> 0:00:54.720
<v Speaker 2>to pick more attention to average vulner nicols. We get

0:00:54.760 --> 0:00:59.440
<v Speaker 2>to the election day, we are finding, as we've always

0:00:59.560 --> 0:01:04.240
<v Speaker 2>found that as people pay attention to educate themselves around

0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:08.120
<v Speaker 2>what's important, this election isn't about the individual candidates.

0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:10.800
<v Speaker 3>It's not even about the political parties. It's about the

0:01:10.840 --> 0:01:14.520
<v Speaker 3>public policy priorities, and the more young.

0:01:14.200 --> 0:01:18.040
<v Speaker 2>African American voters, particularly those who are under fifty, get

0:01:18.080 --> 0:01:21.679
<v Speaker 2>factual information about what's at stake, we begin to see

0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:27.240
<v Speaker 2>a shift, a gradual shift towards Vice President Harris. It

0:01:27.360 --> 0:01:29.880
<v Speaker 2>was to be expected because during this period of time,

0:01:30.200 --> 0:01:33.080
<v Speaker 2>this is what always happened. But it's really important that

0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:37.160
<v Speaker 2>those voters are spoken with, they listened to, and they

0:01:37.760 --> 0:01:41.320
<v Speaker 2>as they understand the value and the portance of their vote.

0:01:42.160 --> 0:01:44.280
<v Speaker 4>Director Johnson, it's good to have you back on Bloomberg

0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:46.280
<v Speaker 4>TV and radio. You know, the narrative that we heard

0:01:46.319 --> 0:01:48.400
<v Speaker 4>over the summer to your point before Labor Day, although

0:01:48.400 --> 0:01:51.840
<v Speaker 4>a little bit after the story was that young men

0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:54.240
<v Speaker 4>of color were gravitating toward Donald Trump, that this is

0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:58.200
<v Speaker 4>a Republican nominee that was accomplishing something that the GOP

0:01:58.480 --> 0:02:00.960
<v Speaker 4>was not used to making in ruads with the community

0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:05.760
<v Speaker 4>that was typically not favorable to the Republican candidate or

0:02:05.760 --> 0:02:09.000
<v Speaker 4>the nominee in this case. Does he deserve some credit

0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:12.720
<v Speaker 4>as a Republican for crossing those lines to break through

0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:13.560
<v Speaker 4>with young black men.

0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:16.800
<v Speaker 2>Well in Benniti, your question is if that was a

0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:20.480
<v Speaker 2>factual statement I have heard over the last five election

0:02:20.639 --> 0:02:24.959
<v Speaker 2>cycles about this drifting of core Democratic voters in one

0:02:25.040 --> 0:02:29.200
<v Speaker 2>direction as a result of some strategy from the Republican Party.

0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:32.040
<v Speaker 2>I recall hearing it in two thousand and two thousand

0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:36.000
<v Speaker 2>and four. It's the Latino community, or can recall hearing

0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:37.639
<v Speaker 2>some of the same narrative.

0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:40.520
<v Speaker 3>Around the American community broadly.

0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:43.880
<v Speaker 2>Speaking, particularly twenty twelve and twenty sixteen, especially twenty sixteen.

0:02:44.160 --> 0:02:47.960
<v Speaker 2>And so that's a narrative that's great for media consumption,

0:02:48.480 --> 0:02:52.000
<v Speaker 2>but I have yet to find any factual basis.

0:02:51.560 --> 0:02:52.600
<v Speaker 3>For much of the narrative.

0:02:52.919 --> 0:02:56.600
<v Speaker 2>The poem we did is a random sample, and originally

0:02:56.919 --> 0:03:01.200
<v Speaker 2>it was a question around voters under few African Americans

0:03:01.200 --> 0:03:03.160
<v Speaker 2>who failed, no one was speaking to them.

0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:06.480
<v Speaker 3>They are not being heard and the ones of their vote.

0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:07.120
<v Speaker 3>But as you.

0:03:07.280 --> 0:03:12.360
<v Speaker 2>Close the timeline passed Labor Day, as voters are spoken to,

0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:15.280
<v Speaker 2>they are being heard and they understand the impact and

0:03:15.320 --> 0:03:18.720
<v Speaker 2>importance of their vote as relates to the public policy

0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:21.240
<v Speaker 2>issues that are on the table, we begin to see

0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:24.720
<v Speaker 2>the natural shift as we have identified in our pole,

0:03:24.840 --> 0:03:27.400
<v Speaker 2>and oppolling is only a snap shot in time.

0:03:27.680 --> 0:03:29.440
<v Speaker 3>This was early October.

0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:33.640
<v Speaker 2>Now we've analyzed the pole considering what happened last week

0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:37.680
<v Speaker 2>and particularly Sunday, there's even a greater shift I will

0:03:37.760 --> 0:03:40.040
<v Speaker 2>predict well.

0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:42.600
<v Speaker 1>As you allude to Sunday, there obviously were a number

0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:46.480
<v Speaker 1>of racist remarks made at the Madison Square Garden rally

0:03:46.520 --> 0:03:49.360
<v Speaker 1>for Donald Trump, not necessarily by the former president, but

0:03:49.400 --> 0:03:53.080
<v Speaker 1>by many of those who spoke before him. What do

0:03:53.120 --> 0:03:57.040
<v Speaker 1>you make of where we are rhetorically right now, Derek,

0:03:57.080 --> 0:03:59.560
<v Speaker 1>and what the signals about the way the country can

0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:03.000
<v Speaker 1>move forward toward the advancement of all people, colored people included.

0:04:04.120 --> 0:04:06.280
<v Speaker 2>Well, we've gone from the loss of stability in our

0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:12.960
<v Speaker 2>public discorce around vible candidates to the laws of supporting

0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:14.400
<v Speaker 2>the importance of democracy.

0:04:14.840 --> 0:04:18.839
<v Speaker 3>What we witnessed on Sunday was a show of fascists.

0:04:19.279 --> 0:04:24.920
<v Speaker 5>You know, I just completed Robert Carroll's book on LBJ

0:04:25.120 --> 0:04:29.080
<v Speaker 5>and he talks about the Nazi gathering in the thirties

0:04:29.360 --> 0:04:31.720
<v Speaker 5>as a backlash of the New Deal policies.

0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:34.359
<v Speaker 2>And what he describes in his book and what I

0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:38.919
<v Speaker 2>see that took place in matters since where gardens is

0:04:39.040 --> 0:04:39.880
<v Speaker 2>very similar.

0:04:40.240 --> 0:04:43.040
<v Speaker 3>You talking about appealing.

0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:46.800
<v Speaker 2>To the lowest comedy nominator around the racial construct and

0:04:46.880 --> 0:04:50.520
<v Speaker 2>ethnic background across the board. That has nothing to do

0:04:50.640 --> 0:04:55.400
<v Speaker 2>with strengthening our democracy or the traditional debate around the

0:04:55.480 --> 0:04:58.960
<v Speaker 2>role of government and taxi that is about creating a

0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:04.920
<v Speaker 2>space of other whole communities and dehumanizing people than joke.

0:05:07.080 --> 0:05:09.600
<v Speaker 4>What's interesting we heard from jd Vance, of course Donald

0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:13.000
<v Speaker 4>Trump's running mate on this, and he is obviously taking

0:05:13.040 --> 0:05:17.080
<v Speaker 4>a different tact than you are in this case, Director Johnson.

0:05:17.080 --> 0:05:20.000
<v Speaker 4>We're just getting this ready because he was asked about

0:05:20.040 --> 0:05:24.280
<v Speaker 4>it and spoke to some of the offensive rhetoric that

0:05:24.320 --> 0:05:27.720
<v Speaker 4>we heard at Madison Square Garden, remembering that he was there.

0:05:27.760 --> 0:05:30.520
<v Speaker 4>He had a speaking role in this five hour rally,

0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:33.760
<v Speaker 4>and even though he claims he didn't hear this joke,

0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:35.840
<v Speaker 4>he reacted to the overall criticism.

0:05:35.920 --> 0:05:38.400
<v Speaker 6>Here he is and my own view on this is,

0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:43.080
<v Speaker 6>look again, I haven't seen the joke. You know, maybe

0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:46.039
<v Speaker 6>it's a stupid racist joke, as you said, maybe it's not.

0:05:46.279 --> 0:05:46.960
<v Speaker 3>I haven't seen it.

0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:49.120
<v Speaker 6>I'm not going to comment on the specifics of the joke,

0:05:49.440 --> 0:05:51.640
<v Speaker 6>but I think that we have to stop getting so

0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:54.480
<v Speaker 6>offended at every little thing in the United States of America.

0:05:54.560 --> 0:05:56.279
<v Speaker 6>I'm just I'm so over it.

0:05:58.240 --> 0:06:01.920
<v Speaker 4>Just want you to react to that, Derek Johnson, that

0:06:01.960 --> 0:06:05.719
<v Speaker 4>were too easily offended at every little thing in the

0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:07.440
<v Speaker 4>United States of America.

0:06:08.000 --> 0:06:15.320
<v Speaker 2>Deny its existence, diminish its impact, pivot back to the message,

0:06:15.720 --> 0:06:20.400
<v Speaker 2>and then carry on with the message of other rising individuals,

0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:25.560
<v Speaker 2>the meaning communities and trying to create a space where

0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:28.960
<v Speaker 2>white supremacy exists. It was the same thing doing the

0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:34.560
<v Speaker 2>debate that you use three strategic tactics. You call out xenophobia,

0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:38.159
<v Speaker 2>they're taking our jobs, You put a racialized liss on it,

0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:43.240
<v Speaker 2>those Haitians, and then you create a reality where you

0:06:43.880 --> 0:06:46.839
<v Speaker 2>say these individuals are not even human by saying they're

0:06:46.880 --> 0:06:50.880
<v Speaker 2>eating our dogs and cats. It's a strategy that's tried

0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:54.599
<v Speaker 2>and true, where you otherise communities to try to prop

0:06:54.720 --> 0:06:58.920
<v Speaker 2>up and motivate a base to vote against all of

0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:02.719
<v Speaker 2>these impending, not sub human individuals who are taking something

0:07:02.720 --> 0:07:05.040
<v Speaker 2>from us. And then when you get caught in that

0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:10.040
<v Speaker 2>you denied existing, you try to marginalize its impact, and

0:07:10.080 --> 0:07:12.080
<v Speaker 2>then you pivot back to their message.

0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:17.640
<v Speaker 1>So that's the messaging we're hearing from one side, Derek.

0:07:17.680 --> 0:07:20.400
<v Speaker 1>We'll hear more messaging the closing argument as it's being

0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:24.240
<v Speaker 1>built from Kamala Harris tonight at the Ellipse here in Washington.

0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:27.440
<v Speaker 1>What does she need to say to black voters.

0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:30.480
<v Speaker 3>Well, I don't think it's one side versus the other

0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:31.160
<v Speaker 3>side of this kind.

0:07:31.240 --> 0:07:34.960
<v Speaker 2>This is those who support democracy and celebrate the diversity

0:07:35.040 --> 0:07:37.960
<v Speaker 2>that we have wrong into being. You know, I recall

0:07:38.080 --> 0:07:40.840
<v Speaker 2>being in school that we talked about America is a

0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:44.640
<v Speaker 2>mixing pot and it brings in ethnic groups and racial

0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:48.960
<v Speaker 2>diversity from around the globe. Even President, former President Reagan

0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:53.240
<v Speaker 2>talked about that we celebrate our diversity, that you could

0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:57.400
<v Speaker 2>be Eastern European, you can be a Catholic or Jewish.

0:07:57.000 --> 0:07:59.960
<v Speaker 3>But once you've become an American and citizens, we're all America.

0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:04.560
<v Speaker 3>And that was nineteen eighty the nineteen eighty's Ronald Reagan.

0:08:05.160 --> 0:08:08.240
<v Speaker 2>Unlike anyone else, they say this is the leader of

0:08:08.280 --> 0:08:10.960
<v Speaker 2>the party. He's the Shinaga example, and they have the

0:08:11.040 --> 0:08:14.559
<v Speaker 2>party so far from that example. This evening, I would

0:08:14.600 --> 0:08:17.800
<v Speaker 2>only think that the Vice President will speak to all

0:08:17.840 --> 0:08:21.360
<v Speaker 2>Americans to talk about the strength about democracy, the need

0:08:21.440 --> 0:08:24.320
<v Speaker 2>to protect our democracy as we look forward to a

0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:28.080
<v Speaker 2>future that's inclusive, productive, and continue to lead this globe

0:08:28.440 --> 0:08:33.160
<v Speaker 2>as the leading democracy and doing so without tearing anybody

0:08:33.200 --> 0:08:36.400
<v Speaker 2>down and maligning any particular individual or community.

0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:39.960
<v Speaker 4>We've only got about thirty seconds left, sir, will Kamala

0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:43.320
<v Speaker 4>Harris enjoyed the same level of support from Black Americans

0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:44.960
<v Speaker 4>that Joe Biden did in twenty twenty.

0:08:46.760 --> 0:08:49.440
<v Speaker 2>I believe that Americans would turn out to the polls,

0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:53.360
<v Speaker 2>especially Black Americans, to support what could potentially be the

0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:59.400
<v Speaker 2>first African and East Asian president female of this country.

0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:02.960
<v Speaker 4>Appreciate your sharing the new polling info with us. Stay

0:09:02.960 --> 0:09:05.760
<v Speaker 4>in touch with us. Derek Johnson, of course, President CEO

0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:07.520
<v Speaker 4>of the NAACP