On Sunday, House leader Jim Clyburn (D-SC) downplayed recent polls showing a drop in support for President Biden among black male voters.
Some polls have indicated that former President Donald Trump is gaining more support from black voters.
However, Rep. Clyburn, 83, believes that black voters are still loyal to the Democratic Party. “I don’t think they’ve left the fold. I don’t know what is going on with the polling taking place here,” Clyburn told NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday.”
He mentioned attending an NAACP event on Saturday, where he saw “zero support in that place last night for Donald Trump.”
Rep. Jim Clyburn is credited with helping Biden win the 2020 Democratic primary after several defeats. South Carolina, which Clyburn represents, is now the first state in the Democrats’ presidential nominating process.
In the 2020 election, Biden won 87% of the black vote compared to Trump’s 12%, according to exit polls.
But as Biden and Trump prepare for a rematch on November 5, recent polls suggest some weakening of Biden’s support among black men.
There are also concerns that fewer black voters plan to vote this November.
Trump has been trying to win over key voter groups that traditionally support Biden.
An April poll by The Washington Post-Ipsos found that only 62% of African Americans were “certain to vote,” down from 74% in June 2020.
NewsNation anchor Chris Stirewalt mentioned an April Wall Street Journal poll showing that 30% of black voters were likely to vote for Trump, while 57% favored Biden.
Other polls, like one from Pew Research, show that 77% of black voters still lean towards Biden, with 18% for Trump.
Clyburn argued that polling is unreliable, noting that recent election results in Maryland were off by about 20 percentage points.
“How can the polls get that so wrong? That’s going on all over the country,” he said.
Historically, Democrats have secured the majority of black votes in presidential elections.
Trump currently has a slight lead over Biden in some recent general election polls, according to RealClearPolitics.
Clyburn is not alone among Democrats in questioning the accuracy of recent polls.
Despite this, the Biden-Harris campaign is working hard to maintain support from key voter groups, including black and young voters.