Harris intensifies efforts to win back Black male voters amid rising support for Trump

WASHINGTON (TNND) — Polls show former President Donald Trump is picking up more support from Black men than in past election cycles. Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign is now pulling out all the stops to reverse a trend hurting her chances in several battleground states.

The reasons for the shift depend on who you ask.

"Black men are starting to say, 'well, this is dollars and cents. To me, when Trump was in office, I had more dollars and cents in my pocket under Kamala Harris, I've got less,'" explained Harrison Fields, a Trump campaign surrogate and a Black male voter himself.

“I believe many times it's due to patriarchy and sexism," said Dante King, author of "The 400 Year Holocaust" and a Black male Harris supporter. "People, particularly men, in this case, have biases that go, I think, under-interrogated. And because they are under-interrogated, they are unmitigated."

No matter why you think it's happening, you can't deny the numbers are not what we're used to seeing.

According to Reuters, an NAACP poll shows over a quarter of Black men under 50 support Trump.

"I'm Black and Puerto Rican. Luckily, I grew up in a conservative household, but for a lot of my family, voting Democrat is almost like riding a bike. You learn how to do it, and then you keep on doing it and you never lose it," Fields noted. "But I think you're seeing now that a lot of Black and Hispanic Americans are questioning their loyalty to this party because if they look back at decades of leadership, they're starting to ask themselves, what am I getting from this party?"

Data suggests this questioning might have started happening years ago.

According to exit polls in 2008, only 5% of Black men voted Republican. In 2020, it was 19% — a 280% increase in just 12 years.

"I think what's disconcerting and also problematic about attempting to isolate Black men in this conversation is that, by the numbers, proportionately, black men are supporting Vice President Harris," King touted.

"Democrats are going to be taking a majority of the black vote, but in an election In which we are truly talking about, a marginal victory for either candidate. Every little bit counts," Fields warned.

The shift, even if slight, could hurt Vice President Kamala Harris in key battleground states.

"I don't assume to have the votes of any demographic locked down. I have to earn their vote and I'm going to work as I've been to earn that vote and to win on November 5th," Harris said in Detroit on Wednesday.

Earlier this week, she did atown hallwith popular, radio host Charlamagne tha God to gain support from Black men. During the event, she defended her record as a prosecutor and denied her career was spent targeting Black men.

She also released an opportunity agenda for Black men including forgivable loans for Black entrepreneurs and grants for mentorship programs.

"Black men deserve a president who will deliver on promises and equip them with the tools and resources to make their aspirations a reality," the agenda reads.

Trump is courting these highly coveted voters too. He visited a Bronx barbershop on Thursday.

"With Black men, at 32% and 31%. This is throwing their formula off a little bit. This is a little change. We ran a great country. We had everything going. The world respected us," Trump said during an interview with Fox News on Friday.

The last time a Republican presidential nominee received this much support from Black men was in 1972. President Richard Nixon received 23% of the Black male vote. He won that election by a landslide, which will not be the case in this year's tight race.

There are about 16.2 million Black male voters. They could determine who wins and who loses on Nov. 5.