Trump won big with black men now he must convince them to be better fathers
Just as many pollsters predicted, Donald Trump scored record numbers of African-American votes last week — particularly among black men.Some 21% of them voted for Trump, up 2% from 2020, with nearly one-third of black men under 45 rallying behind the once and future president.
It’s a startling figure to many people, particularly considering that Trump’s rival, Kamala Harris, is African American and how her campaign placed an outsized emphasis on securing votes from black men.Harris still managed to win the majority of the black vote, including 91% of women. But black men clearly cared less about Harris’ celebrity-filled rallies and patronizing pleas from the Obamas and more about the economy and inflation.
They also cared about Trump’s leadership capabilities; black voters this cycle were twice as likely to describe Trump as a strong leader than in 2020, according to a report from the Associated Press. Having scored historic levels of black support (and confidence), Trump is positioned to tackle the most serious and unspoken crisis among African Americans: the lack of black fathers in their children’s homes and lives.The need could not be greater or more urgent.
And only a leader as impervious to scrutiny as Trump is has the chutzpah to devise a solution. Back in the decades immediately following LBJ’s Great Society, some 25% of black children were being raised by single parents (almost always single mothers).Today, that figure has nearly tripled.
Yet there is perhaps no greater taboo among progressives than pointing out the dismal numbers of married black parents. Barely 30% of African Americans are wed, the lowest rate of any ethnic group.More worrisome, study after study reveals that almost half of all black women have children from multiple fathers, the highest number of any American demographic. The follow-on effects of this blight are clear: Diminished family wealth, compromised family stability, lower education and professional outc...