“Black men are more likely to not be able to vote because of felony disenfranchisement.” Do Black men vote republican more than Black women? Yes they do. Michael Harriot explores the Black male voter.
Michael Harriot [00:00:05] Why are so many Black men becoming Republicans? Why is it so hard to get Black men to vote? Why Black men so conservative? Do they not care about Black people? Is Hoochie Daddy short at the root of this problem? Well, that’s what we’re going to talk about today on theGrio Daily. The only podcast that knows that alpha males never competed to Omega men. I’m world famous wypipologist Michael Harriot. Welcome to theGrio Daily.
Michael Harriot [00:00:43] I’m sure you’ve seen news and heard reports that Black men are voting for Trump and they’ve becoming Republicans. And like there’s probably, like Candace Owens onlyfans for Black men or that conservatives are luring Black men to the Republican Party or that Black men just don’t vote. And besides Herschel Walker, who all these Black men and why they join in the GOP and why don’t Black men vote? Well, today we’re going to explain this phenomenon and explain why this is happening. Or discuss whether or not it’s happening at all. And I know people are saying, well, you can’t believe everything Candace Owens says. And, you know, Herschel Walker can’t do math. And I know. Right. Because if you tell Herschel Walker to carry the one he thinks you’re talking about a goal line stance. But, we should talk about these issues among ourselves. That’s why theGrio Daily is here. So we’re going to talk about the Black male voter. What’s wrong with them? Why they can’t be trusted. Because that is the narrative that we read about in the news all the time. Like Black men are going to ruin it for Stacey Abrams or Black men are going to ruin it for the Democratic Party. So let’s talk about it.
Michael Harriot [00:02:01] Okay. First, you have to understand that the Republican Party appeals to men, so more white men vote Republican, more Hispanic men, more Asian men vote Republican. And Black men are the same. We vote in higher numbers for Republican than Black women. But we are more reliable to not vote Republican than any other demographic except Black women. Because Black men basically vote like Black women. Like, look at this chart, right? So in every election since 1972, there’s been basically like a five point difference between Black men voters and Black women’s voters in their support for the Republican Party. Right. I mean, the only other really stand out time is when Barack Obama ran in, like all the Black people voted for him. Like you couldn’t get a Black person not to vote for Barack Obama. But other than that, the gap between the Black male vote and the Black woman vote has been about five points. But they’re still like, you know, five point difference is still a lot. Right. So why do Black men vote Republican more often than Black women? Are they more conservative? Well. It’s not that they’re more conservative. It’s the demographics of politics.
Michael Harriot [00:03:26] Uneducated people are more likely to vote Republican. And just as it is with white people, just as it is with Asians, just as it is with Hispanic Americans, Black men are less educated than Black women. Black women are becoming the most educated demographic in America. Right? They are going to college and being college educated at a faster pace and at higher rates than any other demographic in this country. So when that is reflected in politics, we see that like I mean, there’s no other way to put it. Less educated people are more conservative. They are more likely to fall for the B.S., like, you know, like if they come for your taxes, then you’re going to be broke or that, you know, you should hate gays or that, you know, if you have an abortion, then you killing Jesus’s baby or you could be killing the next Jesus. Like only uneducated people fall for that myth. And there are a small group of uneducated people who are Black who fall for this. And because Black men are less likely to be educated or to be highly educated than Black women, you see that gap. And here’s another thing that we never talk about. A lot of this is because of white girls. Oh, no, no, no, no. I’m not like that’s not a joke. Like, I do make jokes, but that’s not a joke. See, Black men are slightly, well, twice as likely to be in interracial relationships than Black women. And that gap almost exactly reflects the gap in voting.
Michael Harriot [00:05:21] One in five Black people in interracial relationships vote Republican. And because Black men are more likely than Black women to be in a relationship, it almost reflects exactly that five point difference that goes year in and year out. But if you notice, it’s not increasing. It’s not really decreasing. But, Black men over time have always been less likely than Black women to vote for the Democratic Party. There’s a good reason that Black men don’t vote as often as Black women, and that is the way voting is set up. First of all, Black men are more likely to work a job that pays them hourly wages. So it literally costs Black men more to take a day or an hour off than it does for anyone else in the country. Black men are more likely to not be able to vote because of felony disenfranchisement. He is the rates of felony disenfranchisement or incarceration in America. And as you can see, one in about one in 15 Black men can’t vote because of felony disenfranchisement, whereas about one in 100 Black women can’t. So Black men are much more likely to be restricted or to be banned from voting in this country. And that’s another problem that we have to fix in the laws. Not just an attitude. Right.
Michael Harriot [00:07:03] You also have to understand that Black men work wage earning jobs versus salaried jobs more than any other demographic. And again, they are more conservative than Black women. But the interesting thing about this is that we focus on Black men being conservative and no one else. We don’t talk about how conservative white women are. Right. Like white women have never voted Democratic in recent history. Right. As a matter of fact, Black men are the most reliable Democratic constituency other than Black women. In fact, we vote Democratic more than Hispanics. We both vote Democratic more than than Asians. We vote Democratic more than any other group besides Black women in America. Like aside from I don’t know, like seasoning recipes, do we ever complain about the person who is second most reliable? Complaining about this small percentage of Black men who vote Republican doesn’t it really matter. As a matter of fact, the proportion of Black men who vote Republican is so low that it’s not really giving the Republicans an electoral advantage. Right. And so what we should be focusing on is larger groups like white women. if we could get Black men to vote like Black women it still wouldn’t be as much of an advantage for Democrats as if we could get 2% of white women to vote for reproductive rights or for LGBTQ rights or for just anti-racism.
Michael Harriot [00:09:09] That is the problem is that everybody else, especially white people, support anti-Black policy promoters. It’s that everybody else supports the Republican Party more than Black men and Black women. So, in a sense, arguing about Black male voters is kind of like talking about Black on Black crime. It’s kind of like not downloading theGrio app. It’s kind of like not subscribing on your favorite platform. It’s kind of like not telling a friend to tune in and watch theGrio Daily every day. As always, will leave you with a Black saying and today’s Black saying is remember, if God made anything better than a Black woman, he probably kept it in heaven. Thanks for listening to theGrio Daily and we’ll see you on the next episode.
Michael Harriot [00:10:11] Thank you for listening to theGrio Daily. If you like what you heard, please give us a five star review. Download theGrio app, subscribe to the show and share it with everyone you know. Please email all questions, suggestions and compliments. Podcasts at theGrio.com.
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