Vice President Kamala Harris’s ascension to the top of the Democratic ticket has reinvigorated Black voters in the key swing states of Michigan and Pennsylvania.
According to a Suffolk University/USA Today poll released on Sunday, Harris leads former President Trump by 70%-9% among Black voters in Michigan and by 70%-11% among Black voters in Pennsylvania. These results indicate that Harris has regained some of the enthusiasm that was lost when President Biden was leading the ticket. A June poll from Suffolk University/USA Today showed Biden with a smaller lead over Trump, at 54%-15% among Black voters in Michigan and 56%-11% in Pennsylvania.
“There is no question that Harris at the top of the ticket has caused an immediate jump in support at the expense of all other candidates and categories,” said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, in a press release about the new poll. “She is well on her way to unifying the Black community, though she’s still short of the kind of Black voter margins that she must secure to win states like Michigan and Pennsylvania.”
Biden’s decline in support among Black voters, a crucial demographic for Democrats, was a significant concern for the party in the weeks leading up to his decision to exit the race. In the 2020 election, exit polls showed Biden winning over Black voters by a margin of 92%-7% in both Michigan and Pennsylvania—two pivotal swing states likely to determine the election’s outcome.
When asked if they felt Harris represented them, 61% of Black voters in Michigan said she represents “people like me,” while 27% felt she did not. In Pennsylvania, 58% of Black voters felt represented by Harris, compared to 30% who did not.
The Suffolk University/USA Today poll was conducted between August 11-14, surveying 500 Black voters in each state. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.
