WASHINGTON – Ron Beasley doesn’t think of himself as a Republican. The 34-year-old businessman voted for President Donald Trump for the first time in 2024, but party loyalty has nothing to do with it.
“I’m a capitalist. I vote green; I don’t vote red or black,” Beasley said at a recent gathering held by the Black Conservative Federation, where hundreds of Black Trump supporters gathered to celebrate the president’s history with his community.
But even as they cheered Trump’s success — he won more than 2 in 10 black men, the highest percentage for a Republican candidate since Gerald Ford in 1976 — many in attendance expressed skepticism about what’s next. And the man Black Conservatives credit as one responsible for expanding the party tent won’t be on the ballot in 2026 – Trump.
“I think Trump’s moment will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for people,” said Erik Conyers, a Trump fundraiser and Republican National Committee event organizer who attended the gala. “You felt the great power in America in wanting to vote for this person.”
He is the single most powerful person who now presents the Republican Party with an opportunity and a structural problem: Trump’s approval rating among Black voters has declined by 10 points since he took office, sitting at 25 percent at the end of February, according to the Decision Desk HQ polling average. And interviews with more than a half-dozen Black Trump supporters showed a coalition tied to Trump himself rather than to the Republican Party, raising questions about whether the GOP can support these resources if it no longer leads the ticket.
Economic promises meet economic reality
The disconnect between Trump’s messaging and the experience of the majority of black voters has become increasingly stark.
While Mr. Trump talks about the economy in a positive light – announcing in his State of the Union address that the US economy is “roaring like never before” and “inflation is slowing” – unemployment among black Americans has risen to 7.2%, double the general rate. Federal job cuts have disproportionately affected black families, who have long relied on jobs as a ticket to the middle class.
Yet the administration offered little in the way of a new targeted plan comparable to Trump’s 2020 “Platinum Plan,” which aims to “increase access to income in black communities by nearly $500 billion.”
“There’s a very strong sense from a lot of people, and these people are even in the Trump administration and in the Republican base, that what they’re seeing coming out of DC and the message they’re hearing, it’s not reflecting their real lives,” said Rob Smith, a conservative and senior fellow at the Rainey Center for Public Policy.
Asked if Mr. Trump should change his speech, Smith did not say: “No, because it is not the true message of Trump,” noting that members of the president’s family have seen their wealth increase significantly since he returned to the throne. “Voters need to start hearing it.” I don’t know that there are any messages or anything that Trump can say that will change people’s feelings.”
Ashley Bell, a former economic adviser who served in Trump’s first term and now works with a black bank, told MS NOW that maintaining black support in the midterm elections will be difficult.
“We have seen some success and progress in the economy, but we still have a long way to go,” he said. “This will make it difficult for the administration to gather the necessary support within the party, and to continue to recruit other Democrats to get there, otherwise it could be a war.”
The controversy will test Trump’s economic appeal
Attendees of the Black Conservative gala continued to support Mr. Trump economically, dismissing the idea that the Trump administration’s attack on black history, removing the diversity agenda and the inclusion and posting of the Obamas’ racist video would undermine the party’s ability to maintain its gains with blacks in particular and black men.
“At the end of the day, the most important thing people care about is their wallet, their safety. Can they take their two children on vacation?” Conyers said.
A series of disputes complicated that calculus. When a White House employee used the president’s social media account to post a video depicting former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama as monkeys, the president refused to apologize to those who were offended by the episode. He later denounced the racist nature of the content when questioned by a reporter. The White House withdrew the video for 12 hours and initially criticized the return as “fake outrage.”
#Trumps #gains #among #black #voters #fade #economic #promises #fade
