Harris pledges to 'earn the vote' of Black men, as Trump makes gains

• Vice President Kamala Harris laid out how her economic policy proposals could boost opportunities for young Black men in an interview panel with NABJ journalists.
• Her message outlined an economy-focused a pitch to the key voting bloc of young Black male voters that have been slipping to Donald Trump this election cycle.
• During his own sit-down with NABJ journalists in July, Trump faced backlash for impugning Harris' racial identity and calling her a "DEI hire."

Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday laid out how her economic proposals could specifically help young Black men, a key Democratic voting bloc that polls show Republican former President Donald Trump gaining ground with in this election cycle.

"I think it's very important to not operate from the assumption that Black men are in anybody's pocket," Harris said in a sit-down interview with a panel from the National Association of Black Journalists. "I'm working to earn the vote, not assuming I'm going to have it because I am Black."

A new poll by the civil rights group NAACP released Friday found that more than a quarter of Black men under 50 years old support Trump over Harris.

To win those votes, Harris is focused on an economic argument. At NABJ, she described embarking on an "economic opportunity tour focused on Black men" earlier this year, before she was a candidate for president.

She also pointed to her work "getting billions more dollars" into community banks to expand access to startup capital.

"We have so many entrepreneurs in the community who do not have access to capital, but they've got great ideas, an incredible work ethic, the ambition, the aspiration, the dream ... but don't have the relationships, necessarily" to get financing or grow a small