Split among African-American voters in South Carolina could hurt Biden
For James Felder, the question of which presidential candidate to support in the South Carolina primary has never been terribly complicated. The 80-year-old civil rights activist has always backed Joe Biden, appreciative of the eight years he spent as the No. 2 to the first black president.
But when Felder opened a recent forum at historically black Benedict College to questions, students in the room weren’t so convinced.
J’Kobe Kelley-Mills, a junior English major, said he was torn between Biden and Bernie Sanders, the progressive Vermont senator who is now the Democratic front-runner after strong performances in the first three primary contests.
“They both have decades of political experience,” KelleyMills said of Biden and Sanders, adding that most of his friends were siding with the senator. “They’re going to really know how to communicate with people on the other side of the aisle in the Senate and I think that if we can get them in there, we can finally start to see the government start to move forward.”
Faith Dupree, a senior psychology major and member of Benedict’s NAACP student chapter, said she was backing Sanders, and sophomore Luis Gonzalez said he would likely vote for Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
The dynamic was a reminder that black voters aren’t unanimous in how they’re approaching the rapidly evolving Democratic contest. That’s a challenge for Biden as he seeks a commanding win in South Carolina on Saturday. After disappointing finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire, he can’t afford to lose much black support here, which could leave him with a narrow victory or, even worse, in second place.
“We’re not that monolithic group that we used to be,” Felder said. “You’ve got a whole generation and a half, maybe, who don’t know Biden, don’t know what has happened in the past.”
“This generation,” Felder continued, “is more open to others, new faces, as opposed to us who knew what Biden did. We appreciated him as vice president and the fact he served (President Barack) Obama so well, but you’ve got a generation who’s coming along now who says ‘Well, that’s fine, but let me hear over here, too.’ ”
A national Washington PostIpsos poll conducted in January found Sanders with an advantage among black voters under 35, even as Biden had a big lead among black Democratic voters overall. That poll was conducted before any of the primary contests began.
The generational split among African-American voters in South Carolina parallels the divide seen among whites and Latinos in early contests, with Sanders polling stronger among younger voters. The challenge for Sanders will be to generate enough turnout among those younger voters, who historically turn out at rates far lower than their elders.
After a second-place finish in Nevada, Biden quickly focused his campaign on South Carolina over the weekend. He told parishioners at a black church in North Charleston that the election can “rip out the roots of systemic racism” if voters help him win the Democratic nomination.
But his rivals aren’t ceding the state, sensing Biden’s vulnerabilities. Billionaire Tom Steyer has flooded the airwaves with millions of dollars of television advertising. Warren and Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., will hold events across the state this week. And Sanders plans to hold at least four large rallies, which tend to attract young voters, between Wednesday and Friday.
Republicans working to win back the House majority jumped on comments Sanders made in a CBS News “60 Minutes” segment aired Sunday in which he praised the late Cuban ruler Fidel Castro for establishing what the senator called a “massive literacy program” when he took power. “I’m hoping that in the future, Senator Sanders will take time to speak to some of my constituents before he decides to sing the praises of a murderous tyrant like Fidel Castro,” Rep. Donna Shalala, a first-term Democrat from Florida, tweeted.
The anti-Sanders efforts may peak on the debate stage Tuesday night in South Carolina.