Kamala Harris has been dispatched on the campaign trail to convince black men that they are better off under Joe Biden amid fears they are abandoning the Democrats.
The vice-president’s multi-state “economic opportunity tour” kicks off in the critical battleground of Georgia on Monday and heads to Michigan next week.
Her office said Ms Harris will highlight the administration’s commitment to “underserved entrepreneurs”, and how the White House’s economic policies have created “a small business boom”.
A White House official privately indicated a major focus of the tour will be engaging black men, with polls suggesting they have become disillusioned with Mr Biden amid a surge in the cost of living and illegal immigration.
Ms Harris arrives in Georgia on Monday afternoon for a moderated conversation with Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings, a podcasting duo who focus on increasing financial literacy in black communities.
She will also highlight a $158 million (£125 million) federal grant that will reconnect black communities that have been cut off by Atlanta’s major highways to the city’s centre.
Mr Biden pulled off a surprise victory in Georgia in 2020, with high turnout among African American voters helping him turn the southern state blue for the first time since Bill Clinton in 1992.
But four years later, polls suggest Mr Biden’s nationwide support among black voters – a significant bloc in the key battleground states – appears to be waning.
This month, a poll of seven swing states in The Wall Street Journal showed more black men planned to support Mr Trump than Mr Biden than in 2020.
The figures have prompted panic in the White House, which recently announced that Mr Biden would deliver the commencement address at Morehouse College, the alma mater of Martin Luther King Jnr.
But the announcement triggered a backlash among the school’s faculty and students who have criticised Mr Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump views Georgia as a key target for his White House comeback and has been working to win over black voters, who represent 30 per cent of the state’s electorate.
The Republican candidate recently appeared at a branch of fast food outlet Chick-fil-A in Atlanta, where he received an enthusiastic welcome from black Republican activists, including students from Morehouse College.
Mr Trump’s aides believe focusing on the economy and immigration, two key areas of concern among the voting bloc, and where he leads Mr Biden in polling, will be critical to his success.
The vice-president, who is taking on greater campaign responsibilities for the 81-year-old Mr Biden with more than 35 trips to 16 states this year, has focused on abortion access, gun control and voting rights, issues which disproportionately impact minority voters.
‘Robust support’
Sources within Ms Harris’s inner circle have argued that a number of the administration’s actions have directly benefited black Americans, such as expanding access to healthcare coverage and expanding child tax credits.
But they believe more must be done to make voters aware of those achievements, as well as highlighting record low unemployment levels among black Americans.
One source said that Ms Harris, as a historic vice-president, has a “uniquely ability” to deliver that message.
Prof Alan Abramowitz, from Atlanta’s Emory University, said Mr Trump had demonstrated “surprisingly robust support” among black voters in some recent polls.
However, he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that recent exit polling and turnout trends made him sceptical of surveys suggesting Republicans were “on the verge of a big breakthrough with black voters”.
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