‘My Eyes Are Open’: Black Voter In Battleground State Says Biden-Harris Economy Pushed Him Into Trump Camp

“At the end of the day, I’m Trump because my eyes are open. I can see that he was doing a lot better than what we’re going through right now,” one black voter said in the “Fox and Friends” statement. “You can’t even go to the grocery stores right now without making a life decision on what you want to get. You know, you got to compromise. We don’t have to go through that four years ago.”

Since Biden and Harris took office in January 2021, prices rose by over 20%, while the Consumer Price Index (CPI) reached a high of 9% in June 2022. By comparison, the CPI grew 1.4% year-over-year in January 2021, when Trump left office, while the average price for a gallon of gas was under $2.25, according to GasBuddy.com.

Biden, Harris and Democrats have blamed big corporations for higher prices, saying they are the result of “corporate greed.” Harris proposed empowering the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to impose “harsh penalties” for “price gouging” by grocery stores, during an Aug. 16 speech on economic policy that drew criticism from Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell  and the paper’s editorial board.

“You know, just being able to just live on a day-to-day basis, it has become a little harder at this point in time,” a second black voter said.

Democrats are scrambling to address Trump’s surge in support from black voters. Trump, who garnered 12% support from black voters in 2020, exceeded that level of support in some general election polls, including a CNN poll released in late September that showed Vice President Kamala Harris leading Trump by 55% among black voters under the age of 60, compared to a 71% margin for President Joe Biden in 2020.

Former President Barack Obama spoke at a Pittsburgh-area campaign office for the vice president Oct. 10, where he urged black men to support Harris, while appearing to accuse them of sexism for being hesitant to do so.

Trump leads Harris by 1.0% in polls of Michigan voters from Sept. 21 to Oct. 9, according to the RealClearPolling average. Trump’s lead drops to 0.3% when independent candidate Cornel West, Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein and Libertarian Chase Oliver are included as options in the surveys.