Wavering Black voters: Biden is flawed — and Trump is unacceptable

Months of polling has shown a segment Black voters, a key part of President Joe Biden’s base, souring on his performance and growing more open to voting against the Democrat than in any recent presidential election.

Yet a new focus group of undecided Black voters in North Carolina — specifically, Black voters who view both Biden and former President Donald Trump negatively at the moment — illustrates that while those voters are clearly dissatisfied with Biden, most of them also see Trump as an unacceptable choice.

These voters almost universally panned Biden as “old,” lamented what they saw as a lack of follow-through by his administration and questioned his strength politically. But they largely described Trump in even bleaker terms, using terms like “crazy” and a “grifter.” Three of the participants called Trump racist without prompting, after which a majority of the panel agreed.

The findings come from two focus groups produced in collaboration with Engagious, Syracuse University and Sago as part of the NBC News Deciders Focus Group series. The two groups included 14 Black voters in North Carolina, a potential swing state, who say they’re dissatisfied with both Biden and Trump.

“I feel like it’s a lesser of two evils. It’s either a politician who is making attempts to do things for the entire country, or someone who’s just about themselves or their party, their particular party and their people,” said Candice D., a 44-year-old from Charlotte.

Just moments before, Candice called Biden “old” and Trump “divisive.”

Carolyn G., a 76-year-old who is also from Charlotte, framed her choice similarly.

“Trump — I don’t want to go through another four years of his 'Make America Great Again' because America was not great,”