Vice President Kamala Harris has seen a surge in support from Black women voters due to her work on health care issues such as maternal mortality rates, reproductive rights and gun control.
This enthusiasm could be the key to Democratic turnout in key battleground states.
Black women have always been among the most reliable voters in the Democratic Party base, and were central to former President Barack Obama’s victories in 2008 and 2012. Enthusiasm for President Joe Biden in 2020 was also strong. But this year, before Mr. Biden withdrew from the race and when Ms. Harris became the Democratic nominee, his support among this key demographic was waning, and it showed that his support in battleground states was waning. This may have lowered voter turnout.
Since then, support among black voters for top Democratic candidates has increased. According to the Pew Research Center, 64% of black voters supported Biden in July, before he withdrew from the race. In August, 77% of black voters supported Harris.
Black voter turnout, especially in rural areas of Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, could help Harris win. Polls show Biden’s support has grown since he left office, especially among Black women.
“This is a renaissance,” said Holli Holliday, a Washington, D.C.-area attorney and president of Sisters Lead Sisters Vote, a group that works to advance black women’s political leadership. “We are partnering with a collective of Black women’s organizations to collaborate and act collectively like never before.”
The issue of gun safety could have particular resonance in Georgia, where both Harris and Republican candidate former President Donald Trump are vying for support among black voters. The Sept. 4 mass shooting at Apalachee High School near Winder, Georgia, left four people dead, nine injured and hospitalized, and many more left with psychological and emotional scars. .
According to the Pew Research Center, 82% of black women had a favorable impression of Harris in August, up from 67% in May.
And more black women say they are voting than ever before. In August, nearly 70% of Black women said they were very or extremely motivated to vote, up from 51% in July, according to Pew magazine. According to Higher Heights, a political action committee focused on mobilizing and electing Black women, 16 million Black women in the United States are eligible to vote, and 67% of them are registered.
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Trump is also seeking support from black women voters. Her campaign released a video in August introducing black women who support Harris, citing her economic policies as a key reason.
Still, polls conducted in May and June by KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News, found that only a minority of black women voters say the Republican Party is more concerned about women’s interests. It was 8%.
Kimberly Peeler Allen, co-founder of Higher Heights, said Harris’ focus on health issues that are particularly important to Black women has helped her rally support among Black women. In 2021, the Vice President called for a stronger government response to the country’s high maternal mortality rate.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women. This disparity is driven in part by differences in access to quality health care, underlying health conditions, stigma, and racism.
“The vice president’s focus on the disease of Black mothers garnered a lot of attention and appreciation,” Peeler-Allen said. “Like the economy, quality and affordable care is one of the top issues driving Black women voters to the polls.”
As a senator, Harris co-sponsored a series of bills aimed at improving maternal health with a focus on Black women. The Biden administration will expand maternal and child health efforts in rural areas, including more than $103 million in grants to expand support and access to maternal health care in 2023, and increase bias training for health care workers. Promoted improvements.
In 2018, President Trump signed a bill that provides $58 million annually for five years to the Reducing Maternal Mortality Act to help states investigate and prevent pregnancy-related deaths.
As vice president, Harris urged states to expand postpartum care under Medicaid, the federal health care program for low-income and disabled people. Biden signed a bill that would temporarily give states the option to use federal matching funds to expand the eligibility period from the required 60 days to a full year, and then allow states to make the extended benefits permanent. He also signed a bill allowing it.
At the time Harris became vice president, the only states that offered Medicaid coverage for 12 months postpartum were Illinois, New Jersey, and Virginia. The annual benefit is now available in at least 46 states and Washington, D.C., according to KFF.
“I’m really excited. I never thought we would reach our goal so quickly,” said Congresswoman Robin Kelly, who has led Congress’ efforts to reduce mortality and morbidity for mothers and pregnant women, especially Black women. (D-Illinois) said. “It helps if everyone in the Senate, House and White House works together. I’m optimistic that there will be someone at the top who understands that. We still have a ways to go. Masu.”
Harris’ support for measures to stop gun violence also helps her appeal to black women. Harris said in a debate with Trump last month that she is a gun owner. But she has pushed for bans on what are often known as assault weapons and universal background checks before gun purchases, issues that have especially reverberated in Georgia after the Apalachee shootings. There is a possibility of calling.
A 2024 poll conducted for the Highland Project, a women-led coalition focused on creating multigenerational wealth in black communities, found that 84% of black women favor Trump on gun reform. also supports Harris.
President Trump’s campaign advisers said they would protect access to guns by appointing a federal judge who would oppose the restrictions. He has supported gun rights despite two apparent assassination attempts during his campaign, and in 2017, as president, he endorsed gun rights for people with mental health issues. rescinded controversial Obama administration regulations that made it more difficult.
Win With Black Women, a network of Black women leaders, hosted a planning meeting with Black women on the day Biden withdrew from the race. Approximately 44,000 participants attended the conference.
Turnout may have been hurt by waning enthusiasm for the Democratic ticket among black women before Harris entered the race. Voter turnout is also important. In the 2020 presidential election, seven states each won by less than three points.
“How dare you call 44,000 black women on a Sunday night? That enthusiasm is good for Democrats,” said Kelly Dittmar, research director at Rutgers University’s Center for American Women and Politics. “If Democrats had chosen someone with less enthusiastic support, many women who supported Biden might have stayed home.”
Stephanie Armour: sarmour@kff.org,
@StephArmour1
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