A black male voter at a Detroit barbershop expressed his support for former President Donald Trump during a segment aired on Fox News Thursday morning, citing high prices and the broader Biden-Harris economy. Trump has made significant inroads with Black voters, diminishing Vice President Kamala Harris’s influence within this voting bloc. The voter pointed to grocery store prices as justification for his choice, telling “Fox and Friends” co-host Lawrence Jones that buying basic household goods feels like “making a life decision” under the Biden-Harris administration.
“At the end of the day, I’m Trump because my eyes are open. I can see that he was doing a lot better than what we’re going through right now,” another black voter said in the “Fox and Friends” statement. “You can’t even go to the grocery stores right now without making a life decision on what you want to get. You know, you got to compromise. We don’t have to go through that four years ago.”
Since Biden and Harris took office in January 2021, prices have increased by over 20%, with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) peaking at 9% in June 2022. In comparison, the CPI grew by only 1.4% year-over-year in January 2021, when Trump left office, and the average price for a gallon of gas was under $2.25, according to GasBuddy.com.
Biden, Harris, and other Democrats have attributed rising prices to large corporations, claiming they are the result of “corporate greed.” During an August 16 speech on economic policy, Harris proposed empowering the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to impose “harsh penalties” for “price gouging” by grocery stores. This proposal drew criticism from Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell and the paper’s editorial board, the Daily Caller reported. “You know, just being able to just live on a day-to-day basis, it has become a little harder at this point in time,” a second black voter said.
Democrats are scrambling to respond to Trump’s increasing support among Black voters. Trump, who received 12% of the Black vote in 2020, has surpassed that level of support in some recent general election polls. For instance, a CNN poll released in late September indicated that Vice President Kamala Harris led Trump by 55% among Black voters under 60, compared to the 71% margin for President Joe Biden in 2020.
Former President Barack Obama spoke at a Pittsburgh-area campaign office for Harris on October 10, where he urged Black men to support her, seemingly suggesting that their hesitation was rooted in sexism. According to the RealClearPolitics average, Trump leads Harris by 1.0% in polls of Michigan voters conducted from September 21 to October 9. When independent candidate Cornel West, Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein, and Libertarian Chase Oliver are included in the surveys, Trump’s lead narrows to 0.3%.
