Black Pennsylvania Barbershop Voters Called “Low-Information Voters” On CNN Segment
From Tampa Free Press
Article By Mike Jenkins, Original Publish Date: August 4, 2024
A group of black men at a Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, barbershop expressed doubts about Vice President Kamala Harris’ racial identity in a clip aired by CNN on Saturday.
This comes after former President Donald Trump suggested at a National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) event that Harris recently began identifying as black rather than Indian.
Local CBS affiliate reporter Joel Smith asked the men whether Harris would influence their likelihood to vote Democrat.
One man queried the group, “Is Kamala black, yes or no?” Responses varied, with one man saying he didn’t consider her Black, and another acknowledging her mixed heritage. Harris’ father is Black and from Jamaica, while her mother is Indian.
CNN’s Michael Smerconish, who is white, aired the clip on his Saturday program. He noted that several “self-identifying African American listeners” on his Sirius XM radio show disagreed with the barbershop group’s sentiments, describing them as exceptions rather than the rule and calling the Black men “low information voters.”
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Polling before President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race showed Trump gaining significant support among Black men, reaching as high as 30% in some surveys.
Biden had chosen Harris as his running mate in 2020 after promising to select a woman and facing pressure to pick a Black woman specifically.
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