Can the GOP attract black voters? Here's how Republican governors do it.
https://www.vox.com/2016/8/1/12338538/gop-attract-black-voters
Donald Trump easily outpaced John Kasich on the way to the Republican presidential nomination, and the two men continued to feud bitterly as Trump celebrated his victory at the Republican convention, awkwardly held in the state where Kasich is governor. But there’s one area in which Kasich runs circles around Trump: support among black voters.
In a recent NBC/WSJ/Marist poll, Trump pulled off the notable accomplishment of attracting
zero percent of the black vote in Ohio (yes, zero). In contrast, Kasich
managed to receive 26 percent of the black vote (including fully 33 percent of the votes of black men) in his successful 2014 gubernatorial reelection bid.
Trump’s remarkable unpopularity among African Americans surely is connected to his divisive rhetoric, but the gap between the two men on this score also reflects a difference in the way black Americans view Republican governors and national Republican candidates
.
Republican governors routinely outperform their national peers in attracting black voters
Admittedly the Kasich numbers are anomalous for Republican candidates at all levels of government, but they are more common in gubernatorial elections than in presidential contests. Before him, there was Ohio Gov. George Voinovich, who won 42 percent of the black vote following his popular tenure as the mayor of Cleveland, a majority-minority city. More recently, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — who has since cozied up to Trump — won 21 percent of the black vote in his 2013 reelection win.
There’s more: In her losing bid for governor of California, in 2010, Meg Whitman received 21 of the black vote; in 1998, then-Texas-Gov. George Bush and Arkansas' Mike Huckabee received 27 percent and 48 percent, respectively (although the latter figure is often disputed due to the exit poll’s small sample size). Other Republicans who have fared well with black voters include Scott Walker (Wisconsin), Jeb Bush (Florida), Tom Ridge (Pennsylvania), Mitch Daniels (Indiana), and Charlie Crist (Florida).
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