Georgia local colour blurs the lines on black vote for Donald Trump
In Savannah, where African-Americans account for more than half the population, a quick straw poll of urban voters threw up some surprising results.
Donald Trump controversially quipped earlier this year that he’d become more popular with black Americans after his mugshot was taken as part of his criminal indictment in Georgia last year.
“A lot of people said that that’s why the black people like me because they have been hurt so badly and discriminated against, and they actually viewed me as I’m being discriminated against,” Trump said in February, alluding to the fact that African-Americans are many times more likely to have been incarcerated than whites in the US.
Whatever the impact of his indictment, Trump’s popularity among black voters has undoubtedly increased. In 2020, America’s black population of about 40 million voted 92 per cent for Joe Biden, splitting overwhelmingly for Democrats as they have for generations.
Trump would know if he can eat into the Democrats’ massive margins among certain demographic groups, such as African-Americans and Hispanics, he can win what is shaping up to be a very close presidential election in November.
Support for Kamala Harris, who took over from Joe Biden as de facto party leader in July, among black voters was 77 per cent last month, according to a recent Pew national survey that also found 13 per cent would vote for Trump and 7 per cent for Robert F. Kennedy, who has since pulled out of the race and backed Trump.
If my own very unscientific poll counts for anything, Trump’s support could be much greater than that. I pounded the pavement in Savannah, Georgia, last week, randomly interviewing 10 local African-Americans in the street and in shopping centres about who they intended to vote for and why.
Around a third of Georgians, and more than half of those who live in Savannah, are black, a vastly higher share than the overall population of the US.
A remarkable 50 per cent of those I spoke to were intending to vote for Trump and the other half for Harris.
To be sure, there’s nothing scientific about this poll, the tiny sample being biased to those who were willing to reveal their political stances and give me, a random stranger, their full names.
But I was surprised at the level of Republican support, setting out barely expecting to find one person of colour who would admit on the record to supporting Trump, especially after beginning my search at Savannah bus terminal, where I spoke to Sheyla Hatchet, who worked at a local steak house.
The 39-year-old fell into the politically uninformed bucket, telling me she hadn’t decided how she’d vote in November but “I mean it’s going to be a Democrat, I know that.”
Why, I asked? “They help us, they’re for us. The Republicans, they don’t care about the poor … and (Donald Trump’s) an asshole,” she offered colourfully, adding that she’d never not voted for the Democratic Party.
This was going to be a boring story, I thought, until I stopped to chat to Tina Young, who was resting on a public bench on a sweltering 34C summer day.
“A lot of black people” would vote Democrat, she told me, but not her, taking the opportunity to lay into the Democrats. “They are so radical, they are far to the left, they don’t stand for anything that’s moral to me. I feel like we’re going to become a third world country if she gets in,” she told me, stressing that she had nothing personal against Kamala Harris.
“Back in the ’60s when I was born, our ancestors taught us to vote Democrat, because we were told Democrats were for poor black people, whereas Republicans were for middle-class to high-class people; but now that I’m this age I am I can see differently,” she said.
Young, who worked at a pathology lab, said she was worried Trump’s unorthodox political style would cause him to lose the election. “I get angry with him sometimes because he won’t stop with his mouth.”
A few chairs up, former construction worker William Perry, 63, said he wouldn’t reveal his voting intention, but it was clear he was in the Harris camp.
“I believe the lady Ms Harris would be a wonderful choice because it’s time for America to do something different: we’ve let Republicans run it, Democrats run it, we’ve had a black president and I never thought I’d live to see that – and he didn’t get killed – now it’s time to let a female to run the damn country,” he said, clearly enjoying the chance to opine on this subject.
Perry was happy with the switch to Harris. “You can’t be no old man and run the country, it’s nothing personal against old people: I’m 63 and it hurts to get out of bed,” he revealed, comparing himself to the 81-year-old President Biden, whose struggles with age were a critical factor in his ousting as the Democratic Party candidate.
Perry, who said he was on “disability pension”, had no shortage of views, some of them a little politically incorrect.
“Here’s my take. Americans have built this country, white folks fought and died, black folks have fought and died, so why have we got a bunch of Indians running shops and every damn thing else, it’s not fair,” he said.
“My grandfather fought in the Korean War, my father was a Vietnam vet, I never made it in service, but I helped build that bridge,” he said, gesturing proudly to the striking 3km long Talmadge bridge that crosses the Savannah River.
Perry could have talked all day. James Johnson, a 42-year-old father, was much more taciturn as he took a break for a cigarette.
The trailer company worker said he’d never voted Republican before but might this time as he weighed his options.
“Kamala, I just don’t know much about her yet; as far as with Trump he’s a businessman, and money generates with him,” he told me.
“People make opinions on the wrong things,” he added, before singling out the high cost of living as the biggest factor motivating his November vote.
Jasmine Johnson (no relation), 27, was happy to briefly chat politics as she walked her young daughter to a nearby public fountain to cool off, revealing she’d be backing Harris.
“She’s come here to little old Savannah, and a lot of people don’t come,” she said, referring to the Vice-President’s rally a day earlier at the Enmarket Arena, where about 9000 supporters cheered and Mexican-waived their support for the new Democratic presidential contender.
“She understands a woman’s point of view, and how we look at things when it comes to abortion laws; I feel like that shouldn’t be left to someone who doesn’t have to go through it,” Johnson explained.
“Don’t get me wrong, Trump is a businessman, and I love that aspect of it, but I love the way Kamala and Joe Biden carry themselves.”
After hitting a glut of tourists I headed off to Oglethorpe Mall, Savannah’s biggest shopping centre, about 15km out of town, to continue my search.
Melvin Baker, 46, a tractor operator who had spent all his life in Savannah, said he was “60 per cent” sure he was going to vote for Trump.
“He has more experience in office than she (Harris) does, and he did OK as president,” he said, adding that he expected Trump to win, in part because prices had risen so much.
Baker, who said he couldn’t vote in 2020 because he was in jail, wasn’t sure who his friends and family were voting for. “We talk about the politics but no one never says who they gonna vote for, or even if they gonna vote,” he added.
Stephanie Edwards-Young, a young mum and small business owner, also thought Trump would win, but didn’t relish the prospect, glancing at her husband, Ahmad, next to her to ensure he wouldn’t be voting Republican.
“He better not (vote for Trump). Happy wife, happy life,” she joked.
“I really don’t have anything against Donald Trump; I used to watch the show,” she explained, referring to Celebrity Apprentice, a business talent show Trump hosted for years before pursuing the presidency in 2015.
“I’ve always voted Democrat; I just like their views,” she explained.
At this point I was asked to leave by security: stopping shoppers to chat politics wasn’t allowed, apparently, and no, I could not “just finish” this final interview to catch the names of two friends, who were disagreeing over whether to support Trump or Harris.
So it was back to leafy downtown Savannah, where Elshah Bey stopped to talk to me outside the Olde Pink House restaurant, where he worked, on the footsteps of Reynolds Square, one of the city’s many stunning public spaces stemming from colonial times.
Bey was adamant he wouldn’t be voting because it made “no difference”, but if he were, it would “definitely” be for Trump.
“I think he’s pretty fair, straight up, real,” he told me, contrasting the former president favourably with Harris.
“Her birth certificate says she’s Caucasian, she’s trying to manipulate people to voting for her with lies,” he told me, alluding to a controversy over Harris’s race that continues to simmer in the US.
The Vice-President, who spent much of her youth in Canada, is the daughter of an Indian mother and Jamaican father.
Bey, who like most of my interview subjects didn’t want to be photographed, said he “hated” how Democrat politicians talked about “blacks” and “whites”.
“What I care about is being able to identify as who I am, and not being labelled,” he told me, revealing he was a Muslim who identified “with the Moors”.
He was right; my small sample alone illustrated the wide variety of opinions and life experiences of African-Americans in just one city of the US. It was a welcome remark in a country obsessed with racial politics.
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