Trump has used recent events and public appearances to focus on African American and other minority communities, staging a meeting on Opportunity Zones at the White House and holding a discussion with African American leaders during a trip to Michigan this week.
Trump and his reelection campaign have ramped up efforts to target black voters using microtargeting, hoping that peeling off even a few percentage points from presumptive Democratic nominee Joe BidenJoe BidenOn The Money: Jobless rate exceeds 20 percent in three states | Senate goes on break without passing small business loan fix | Biden pledges to not raise taxes on those making under 0K Trump to attend SpaceX launch in Florida Hillicon Valley: Lawmakers demand answers on Chinese COVID hacks | Biden re-ups criticism of Amazon | House Dem bill seeks to limit microtargeting MORE could make a difference in a close race. .
“My administration is working relentlessly to rush supplies and resources to these communities and to protect the health, safety and economic opportunity of all African Americans and all Americans,†Trump said at Thursday’s listening session with African American leaders during a visit to a Ford Motor factory in Ypsilanti, Mich. .
The president shortly thereafter took credit for the low unemployment rate among African Americans before the pandemic, pledging to rebuild the gains lost by the virus. .
A poll released this week by the African American Research Collaborative found that 80 percent of African Americans rate Trump’s response to the coronavirus as fair or poor.Â
According to an analysis from the American Public Media (APM) Research Lab, the mortality rate for black Americans is 2.4 times as high as that for white Americans and 2.2 times that for Asians and Latinos
The black unemployment rate reached a record low of 5.5 percent last fall, but spiked to 16.7 percent in April
“Based on what we’ve always known in politics a 13.5 percent unemployment rate or a 9 percent [unemployment rate] should be a death knell, but we don’t know that at this point,†Heye said