Biden heading to Georgia to shore up declining support with Black voters

Joe Biden is heading to Georgia and Michigan this weekend to shore up his falling support with Black voters, which is at a historic low for a Democratic incumbent president

It comes as Mr Biden’s 2024 rival for the White House, Donald Trump,has taken steps to improve his standing with Black voters, particularly Black men.

Mr Biden is scheduled to give the Saturday commencement address at Atlanta’s Morehouse College, a historically Black college where the late Martin Luther King graduated.

“Given the way the Biden-Harris Administration has delivered for Black America, and HBCUs, there is no better speaker for this year’s commencement ceremony than President Biden,” Tsaid Trey Baker, a senior campaign adviser to Mr Biden’s re-election campaigns in a memo to reporters.

The president will also speak at the NAACP Freedom Fund’s dinner in Detroit, Michigan, on Sunday.

A New York Times/Siena College poll this week showed that 14 per cent of Black voters said they would vote for Mr Trump if the election were held today while only 49 per cent said they would vote for Mr Biden.

Mr Biden’s tour comes after Vice President Kamala Harris visited Detroit last week to highlight the Biden administration’s focus on Black-owned businesses.

But the visit was derailed by news that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would attack Rafah as part of its war against Hamas in Gaza.

“We are not, and will not, parachute into these communities at the last minute, expecting their vote,” the memo said. “Every day, from now until election day, we will continue working diligently to ensure that come November, Black voters send Joe Biden and Kamala Harris back to the White House to continue delivering for Black America in unprecedented ways.”