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Sorry Kanye, Black Voters Don’t Buy Celebrity Trump Endorsements

Poll: House votes in competitive districts could hinge on Trump’s racism

President Donald Trump speaks at a rally for Ohio Republican Troy Balderson earlier this month. He plans to campaign in at least seven states in September — with more stops to come in October and November. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump speaks at a rally for Ohio Republican Troy Balderson earlier this month. He plans to campaign in at least seven states in September — with more stops to come in October and November. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Kanye West and Dennis Rodman’s recent endorsements of Donald Trump have not impressed black voters in competitive districts whose deep dissatisfaction with the president could play a “key role” in the midterms, according to a poll released Tuesday.

The poll conducted for the NAACP by the African American Research Collaborative and Latino Decision is the latest to find that ethnic minorities associate Trump with racism, and that they are mobilized to vote against Republicans in November. That’s in spite of efforts by Trump and his supporters to enlist surrogates to rally support from the black community.

“Our analysis shows that Trump’s racist statements and actions, which include many policies like separating children at the border, will be major factors in turning people out to vote, and how they vote,” said  Derrick Johnson, NAACP president and CEO.

Trump did not have majority approval from any of the racial and ethnic groups surveyed, and 79 percent of black voters said they disapproved of the president, the poll found. 

Voters across all racial and ethnic groups said they believe Trump is setting race relations back, and 89 percent of black women surveyed said they feel, “disrespected” by Trump. The pollsters said such sentiments likely contributed to high turnout among African American women in recent off year and special elections, such as Alabama and Virginia.

“Many minority voters see Trump as a threat,“ said Henry Fernandez, Principal of the African American Research Collaborative. 

Black voters’ negative opinions of Trump are so strong that black celebrities speaking on Trump’s behalf could actually “backfire,” and repel more people than they persuade, Johnson said. 

“African Americans may see celebrities speaking in favor of Trump as not necessarily genuine,” he said. 

Thirty-six percent of respondents said such statements made them less interested in listening to or supporting Trump’s ideas — more than two-thirds of the 11 percent who said the opposite. Fifty-three percent of black respondents said such statements of support for Trump had no impact on their opinion about the president or his ideas.

The poll found a 13 point advantage for the Democratic candidate over the Republican candidate in the House race among all voters. But large majorities of respondents across all ethnic minorities said they had not been contacted by anyone from a campaign, political party, or community organization to ask them to vote or to register to vote.

The poll surveyed 2,045 registered voters in non-urban areas considered more likely to be “toss-ups.” It had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.1 percentage point for the overall survey and plus or minus 4.8 percentage points for the racial and ethnic group subsamples. Watch: What Midterm Election? Trump Is Already Campaigning for 2020

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