Preston Paris, a young Black man from a family that traditionally votes for Democrats, will cast his ballot for Donald Trump in his first presidential election on 5 November.
Paris says many people expect him to vote automatically for Kamala Harris, a fellow African American, and treat him as if he’s mad for not doing so.
“But I put my faith in Trump. I prefer his foreign policy, and I prefer what his plan is for the economy,” said Paris, a 19-year-old computer science student at Georgia State University.
Georgia is one of the battleground states expected to decide the razor-thin election outcome.
In 2020, Joe Biden beat Trump by just 11,779 votes in this state, where nearly a third of the voting population is Black.
As a result, some recent polls have sounded the alarm in the Harris camp.
A survey published this week in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Harris had the support of 73.8 per cent of Black voters in Georgia, compared to 7.6 per cent for Trump.
However, Harris’s figure was well below the 88 per cent level of support Biden received in the 2020 election.
A New York Times/Siena College poll this month indicated Harris’s largest drop in support, compared to Biden, was among Black men.
The survey found that 70 per cent of these men plan to vote for Harris, compared to 83 per cent of Black women who plan to.
A sought-after vote
In response to these polls, Harris announced a programme to support Black men, including loans for start-up businesses and vocational training.
The Harris campaign has also enlisted the star power of former president Barack Obama, the nation’s first Black president, who joined her at a rally near Atlanta on Thursday, alongside rock star Bruce Springsteen.
Meanwhile, Republicans are attempting to capitalise on Black voters’ dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party.
On a recent morning, dozens attended an event held by far-right activist Charlie Kirk and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, a former presidential hopeful, in a downtown Atlanta park.
Some attendees said they didn’t intend to back Trump but were willing to listen to the Republicans make their case for him.
Others, like Paris, are avid Trump supporters.
“Trump plans to lower taxes, eliminate tax on tips, and reduce taxes for large companies. This could also benefit people like me who hope to work for large companies; I could potentially work for Google one day,” he told AFP.
Paris added that while Trump was in office, “there wasn’t any new foreign conflict,” saying, “I don’t want to get drafted anytime soon, or ever.”
Nearby stood 23-year-old Black student JP, wearing a red cap with Trump’s slogan “Make America Great Again.”
This young man, who declined to give his last name, said the economy was better under Trump. More importantly, he supports the former president because of his Christian faith.
Many conservative Christians feel indebted to Trump for appointing three Supreme Court judges, which led to the end of the national right to abortion in 2022.
“Donald Trump is the one who’s more aligned with the Bible, with my beliefs,” said JP.
Jarrod Grant, a professor of political science at Clark Atlanta University, remarked that Black Americans can no longer be expected to provide unconditional support to a political party.
“One of the key questions we’re all asking is, ‘What is your Black agenda? What are you going to do for Black people?’”
He added: “Black people, we have been helping everyone else except ourselves. Everyone else gets something, but Black people don’t.”
AFP
