A recent Rasmussen Reports poll found that 27 percent of blacks intend to vote for the Republican candidate in the November elections.
To put that number in context, The Washington Post reported in November 2014 that GOP candidates captured 10 percent of the black vote – and that “in some small measures … moved the ball forward” for Republicans, since they got 6 percent in 2012 and 9 percent in 2010.
Florida U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds suggests that the 2022 figure is not a surprise, as the GOP is moving to become “the party of all Americans.”
In a recent interview with Newsmax’s Greta Van Susteren, the Naples Republican, one of only two black GOP lawmakers in the House, said for decades black Americans “didn’t feel comfortable” running as Republicans.
But that’s changed. Donalds noted the GOP has fielded its largest-ever number of black candidates in congressional elections.
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“Our party is really becoming the party of all Americans,” Donalds told Van Susteren.
“It always has been, but I think what we’ve seen, in a year where policy matters, where actual outcomes do matter, and where the Democrats’ radical agenda just has failed so many Americans, more black people are saying, ‘You know what? It’s time to give Republicans a chance because the Democrats have failed us.’”
Donalds told Van Susteren that Democrats are failing black Americans through disingenuous campaign attacks on the GOP.
“Look at the way they run their campaigns,” he added. “Everything is either they’re taking away voting rights, they’re taking away, now, abortion rights or they’re going to be trying to take us back — and Joe Biden even said himself — ‘They want you to go back and live in chains.’ That’s outrageous. Nobody in the Republican Party is doing that.”
On the other hand, Republicans want to empower Americans to make their own choices, said Donalds.
“From the Republican side, what we want is the money to follow the children in education. We want parents to be empowered so they can make the right decisions for their children,” he said.
“We want an economy that grows, where capital freely flows, so people can actually get loans and so they can grow their small businesses and they can accomplish the American dream,” Donalds continued.
Finally, he added, “We want a low-tax environment. You can’t grow an economy with high taxes and high regulation. Doesn’t matter if you’re white, black, Hispanic. You will struggle in that kind of an economy. So if you’re really trying to build your net worth, as a black American or American in general, you need Republican policies in order to create that wealth that you can then pass on to the next generation.”
Donalds said one area where he faults the GOP is that the party has for years been too tentative in taking its ideas to black Americans and others outside the Republican “sphere.” Republicans can no longer rely on winning with just GOP voters, and not convincing those on the outside.
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Social media, Donalds suggested, may have helped Republicans, as it allows people to see the effects of bad policy in real time and influences decision-making.
The congressman argued that one reason more black Americans are coming around to the GOP, as voters and as candidates, the Democratic agenda. Currently, Democrats want to talk about overturning Roe v. Wade, same-sex marriage, the Green New Deal, promoting a “reckless” open borders policy, and reducing the presence of police.
“Those policies just don’t work for people who are struggling in America in the urban corridors, trying to make the American dream,” said Donalds.
“Right now, the Democrats just take advantage of black votes. They take them for granted,” he added. “They’re not coming up with policies that are addressing the plight of building wealth for people on the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum.”
Meanwhile, he noted, “really for the first time since the ’60s, Republicans are actually courting those voters.”
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