On Monday, CNN host Sara Sidner directly challenged political commentator Bakari Sellers when he dismissed polls suggesting that former President Donald Trump would win a historically large portion of the black vote.
During a previous Monday segment, CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten stated that Trump is “careening towards a historic performance” with black voters in the 2024 election as President Joe Biden loses a significant portion of this demographic. On “CNN News Central,” Sidner referenced Enten’s report and asked commentator Sellers for his opinion. Sellers criticized the report’s accuracy, while the host emphasized that they “are the numbers.”
“You just heard Harry Enten with shock and surprise on his face as he was looking at the numbers,” Sidner said. “And I want to go to you first, Bakari. What explains this? Biden 70%, Trump in 2024, 21% of voters, a very high number. And then when you look at 50 and under, the numbers are dramatically different for any Democratic president that we have ever seen. These numbers [are] very high for a Republican candidate. What explains that you think?” (see video below)
“Poor polling. I mean, if you want to be honest about it. If Donald Trump gets those numbers, then I truly believe that I can sell Harry this bridge in Brooklyn,” Sellers said. “That’s just not happening. I think that people have to just level set a little bit, relax a little bit, stop hyperventilating. Donald Trump is not going to get 20% of the black vote. He’s simply not.” He added that as the election draws closer, Biden will win black voters back.
“I think that Harry and everyone else who are looking at these polls analyze this race incorrectly all the time. And the reason they analyze this race incorrectly is because Donald Trump isn’t the biggest threat to Joe Biden. The biggest threat to Joe Biden is black voters staying at home,” Sellers continued. “Black voters aren’t going to all of a sudden under the age of 50 or however old they are, because he gets four or five unnamed rappers from Detroit or four or five unnamed rappers from the Bronx to support him. They’re not going to all of a sudden, you know, flock to Donald Trump.”
“But the numbers are the numbers, Bakari. I mean, are you saying you just don’t believe the polls? Or are you saying you don‘t think these polls will be representative of the population once voting begins in November?” Sidner asked, to which Sellers said, “Both.”
According to the RealClearPolling average, Trump currently leads Biden by 0.8% in a national head-to-head matchup. On Monday, Enten also noted that both Biden and Trump perform worse with black voters when independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is included on the ballot. However, Kennedy’s presence diminishes Biden’s lead more significantly than Trump’s.
“I think what we’ve seen over the past eight years is pretty bad polling,” he added. “And then I think what you’ve seen consistently since that time is individuals have a very difficult time acknowledging that we’ve had that polling and then the polling continuously gets worse.”
“And so I think that‘s one of the issues that we have, but I mean the Biden campaign has, they do have issues with African-American voters in terms of getting them to turn out to vote. That is a fact … I was with Kamala Harris last week in Charlotte, North Carolina and one of the things she was trying to do is ensure that she got black voters to the polls, particularly younger black voters, so they are working towards that,” Sellers said.
WATCH:
‘Numbers Are The Numbers’: CNN Host Pushes Back When Commentator Rejects Polls Showing Trump’s Gains With Black Voters pic.twitter.com/MRiulyRygg
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) June 17, 2024