Monday, May 20, 2024
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Mayra Santos-Febres
Mayra Santos-Febres is a Puerto Rican journalist renowned for her incisive reporting and captivating storytelling. With a keen eye for detail, she illuminates societal issues through her insightful journalism, captivating audiences with her compelling narratives.
The Democrats’ first primary of the 2024 presidential contest contains little mystery. South Carolina propelled President Joe Biden to the Democratic nomination four years ago and he faces only token opposition when voting concludes Saturday.
What’s at stake for Biden is the depth of support he receives from Black voters. They made up half the party’s primary electorate in the state in 2020 and gave him a resounding victory, a win he rewarded by moving South Carolina to the front of the party’s nominating process. In the general election, Biden was backed by 91% of Black voters nationwide, according to AP VoteCast.
Whether he enjoys a similar level of support this year has implications far beyond South Carolina.
Biden’s support among Black voters has waned considerably since he assembled his winning coalition four years ago. His approval rating among Black adults is 42% in the latest Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll, a substantial drop from the first year of his presidency.
That’s a potentially troubling sign as he prepares for a rematch against former President Donald Trump, the overwhelming favorite to win the Republican nomination. Lackluster turnout among Black voters in South Carolina’s primary could signal a broader dip in enthusiasm. Biden will need to energize Black voters in the key swing states of Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
His campaign is not taking the state for granted. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have been visiting in the lead-up to the primary and have promised to keep advocating for the interests of the Black community.
Interviews with a wide array of Democratic-leaning Black voters in South Carolina ahead of Saturday’s primary revealed general support for the president, from early voting centers in Columbia, the state capital, to a historically Black college in Orangeburg to a voter-mobilization event in Charleston. But they also provided warning signs: Voters want Biden to spell out his priorities for a second term while expressing concerns about his age and how he is handling inflation and the economy.
Younger Black voters said they want Biden to represent their concerns and to see them prioritized if he wins a second term.
Alexandrea B. Moore, a 22-year-old senior at South Carolina State University, said Biden could have been more transparent about the challenges he faced in fulfilling his promise of widespread student loan forgiveness, a plan that ultimately was struck down by the Supreme Court.
“If Biden wants to be able to regain the trust of the U.S. citizens, then there does need to be a little bit of transparency on why things didn’t go the way that they were promised to us,” she said.
Olivia Ratliff, a 19-year-old sophomore at the college, the state’s only public historically Black college or university, wants to hear Biden focus on education issues, primarily school safety and the teacher shortage.
South Carolina school districts reported over 1,600 teacher vacancies at the beginning of the 2023-24 school year, a 9% increase from the year before, according to a report from the South Carolina Education Association.
“It’s bad enough we send our children to schools with no teachers, but then they also risk their lives every day going to school,” said Ratliff, an education major.