PONTIAC, Mich. — The neighborhood he grew up in was always a bit rough around the edges, and it has frayed even more over the years, but Bryan Killian-Bey found reasons to smile as he drove through it on a recent winter day: his grandmother’s old, now-abandoned house and the school that used to be a hangout spot for the area’s kids.
But the smile fled as Killian-Bey, 59, steered his truck farther into the city’s core, which has rapidly declined during years of economic turmoil, leaving streets once lined with vibrant homes and businesses now riddled with empty lots. Without fail, he said, Democratic canvassers show up around election time vowing to improve conditions for him and his neighbors, but it never happens.
He voted for President Biden in 2020, but this time Killian-Bey says he and others in his predominantly Black neighborhood aren’t so sure. “I’m torn between voting and not voting at all. A lot of us are,” Killian-Bey said. “I don’t think Biden is it, but I don’t see what else is out there.” He wants Democrats to “give me substance. You can’t dangle carrots and assume we’ll vote for you just because we don’t like the other platform.”
Political analysts say Killian-Bey’s views illustrate a waning enthusiasm among Black voters, particularly Black men, toward Biden and the Democratic Party. A series of polls in recent months have alarmed party strategists and liberal organizers and reportedly frustrated the president, who is facing a tight race for reelection against former president Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner.
A New York Times-Siena poll in late October found that 22 percent of Black voters in six battleground states, including Michigan, would support Trump if the general election were held today, while 71 percent said they would support Biden.
Trump won the support of just 8 percent of Black voters in the 2020 election and 6 percent in 2016, according to the Pew Research Center’s validated voter study. Although few strategists believe Trump could get 20 percent of the Black vote in the next election, even a small uptick would spell trouble for Biden, especially in swing states with large shares of Black voters, such as Michigan, where Biden edged Trump 50.6 percent to 47.8 percent in 2020. A more realistic danger for Biden, political strategists say, is that dissatisfaction among some Black voters may drive them to sit out in November.
Cliff Albright, co-founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund, said that while the polls do not mean the sky is falling for Biden’s campaign, “it just might be drizzling.”
He said conservative talking points have resonated with some Black voters who feel disillusioned or have economic grievances, even though Biden has made more significant gains in reducing unemployment and creating jobs in his first three years than Trump did, including for Black Americans.
“It’s speaking to this idea that Democrats haven’t done anything for you — they’ve let you down and taken you for granted,” Albright said. “But I always say in every piece of disinformation is a kernel of truth. They find that kernel, that grievance, and they feed on it.”
The Biden-Harris campaign and Democratic leaders have taken notice of the sinking enthusiasm among Black voters, particularly after a 10 percentage-point decline in Black voter turnout in the 2022 midterms compared with 2018. The campaign has accelerated its efforts to appeal to Black voters, including a pilot plan that uses digital messaging and “trusted messengers” to spread the word about Biden’s accomplishments, as well as a $25 million advertising campaign on Black and Hispanic media in swing states.
“We know we can’t take any voters for granted, especially Black voters, young voters, who’ve been a crucial bloc for the Biden-Harris coalition,” said Michael Tyler, communications director for the campaign. “We have work to do to remind these communities of what we’ve accomplished for them in the first three years.”
The administration says Biden has delivered for Black voters in numerous ways. The Black unemployment rate hit an all-time low of 4.7 percent last spring. The administration has created programs to boost historically Black colleges and Black-owned small businesses. The Justice Department has launched investigations into law enforcement agencies for systemic misconduct. Biden has diversified the courts in unprecedented ways.
“More Black women have been appointed to federal circuit courts than every other president in American history has appointed,” Biden said recently at a historic Black church in Charleston, S.C. “Every single, solitary one counted. And we’re going to keep going.”
And the president is seeking to speak more directly to Black voters about initiatives that benefit them. When talking to Black audiences, for example, he frequently highlights a pipe replacement program to reduce lead exposure, a health risk that disproportionately affects communities of color.
Black voters have for decades been the most consistent supporters of Democratic candidates in presidential elections, noted Leah Wright Rigueur, an associate professor of history at Johns Hopkins University. Black turnout rose sharply in 2008 and then declined in 2016 when former president Barack Obama was no longer on the ballot.
But Black men are more likely than Black women to vote for Republicans; in 2016, 14 percent of Black men supported Trump, compared with 4 percent of Black women, according to Pew’s validated voter study, helping fuel a Republican narrative that Black men were a potentially fruitful source of converts. In 2020, 12 percent of Black men supported Trump, compared with 5 percent of Black women.
“There’s an assumption that because Donald Trump is Donald Trump, he’ll have zero support among Black voters. That couldn’t be further from the truth,” Rigueur said. “Amongst a small subset of Black men, there is more of a willingness to entertain Republican overtures. And that is distinctly gendered. Black women are less likely to entertain it.”
Many Black voters say they are disappointed that Biden, despite his promises, failed to win a sweeping voting rights bill or police reform legislation. While that is largely due to Republican opposition, some civil rights leaders argue that Biden did not spend enough political capital on such bills, especially compared with favored causes like the Ukraine war.
In any case, civil rights measures often resonate less with Black men, who may view economic prosperity as a more realistic way to get ahead, said Theodore Johnson, a scholar on race and electoral politics at the think tank New America.
“Democrats talk a lot about the Voting Rights Act, the Supreme Court and Republicans using the filibuster to prevent good things from happening. The implication is the only way civil rights can be advanced is if we pass more laws and get more favorable rulings on racial equity,” Johnson said. “Some Black men say, ‘To hell with it. ... This is America, a capitalistic country, and if I’m well off, people will treat me right because the color green is more important than the color of my skin.’”
And many Black Americans, like other voters, may not be feeling the strong economy in their daily lives, given stubbornly high prices and interest rates.
For Black men in metro and suburban Detroit — Pontiac is roughly 30 miles northwest of the city — grievances against Biden and the Democrats run the gamut. Branden Snyder, executive director of Detroit Action, which promotes civic engagement among Black and low-income residents, said some Black voters feel used by Democrats.
“You hear ‘Biden is looking out for Latinos, Biden is looking out for Asians. They passed an anti-Asian hate bill, but where’s our legislation?’” Snyder said. “Other times, it’s ‘Well, Trump gave me the [stimulus] check.’ Or it’s ‘Trump isn’t that bad, yeah he didn’t do s--- for our communities, but at least someone is telling it like it is.’”
Some of this rhetoric is amplified by advertisements or social media, Snyder said. He cited rapper Kodak Black, who was among those offered clemency from weapons charges on Trump’s final day in office and recently endorsed the former president on the podcast “Drink Champs."
In August, rapper YG , who famously wrote the song “F--- Donald Trump,” said on a podcast that the Black community “forgave” Trump after he rolled out the 2020 Paycheck Protection Program intended to help small businesses during the pandemic. The former president, he said, was “passing out money.”
Community organizers around Detroit have tried to counter those ideas by creating spaces for Black men to speak freely about politics and the issues affecting their lives.
One such conversation took place recently at a strip mall restaurant called P’s and Q’s Bakery and Cafe in northwest Pontiac. The owners opened up the restaurant after hours and grilled burgers for 15 or so civically engaged Black men who had driven through the snow from across the Detroit metro area.
Under the pale glow of fluorescent lights, they pushed four tables together and took turns articulating what is at stake in the 2024 election and why they believed Biden’s messaging had fallen flat with some Black men.
“If you can send $800 million to Ukraine, you can’t tell me you can’t facilitate that student loan situation whatsoever,” said Demar Byas, 45, who lives in Pontiac and is a local government employee. “Student loans, homelessness, some of that could have been eradicated. But then we sent that money overseas.”
Kerry Tolbert, also of Pontiac, agreed. “It’s a slap in the face [from] this administration when you watch billions go to other countries and there’s no resources for people right here,” he said.
Norman Clement, founder of the nonprofit Detroit Change Initiative, tried to explain some of the more nuanced reasons Biden’s initial plan for student loan forgiveness was rejected by the courts. At the same time, the self-described liberal said he frequently feels ignored by the Democratic Party.
“All of a sudden, at the last minute in August or September, it’s ‘Black men, can you help save us again?’” Clement said. “Black men are not running to the Republican Party. What they’re doing is sitting at home, doing their own thing, creating their own ecosystems and initiatives. At this point, I have no hope for Democrats to speak to our needs.”
During the two-hour discussion, which grew boisterous at times, several said they were still deciding what to do in November’s election. Some gave Trump credit for at least not making false promises.
“He’s straightforward, there’s nothing else behind him, no ulterior motive — what you see is what you get,” said Travis Glasper, another Pontiac resident. “Give me that versus someone who’s going to lie to me.”
Still, no one in the group committed to voting for Trump. Kermit Williams, a former Pontiac city councilman who called the meeting and has helped convene several other “Brothers’ Brunches” across Detroit, said it’s more likely Black men will sit out the election.
“You have to understand, you elect Donald Trump — Donald Trump is partly responsible for the Central Park Five,” Williams told the group, citing the full-page ad Trump ran in 1989 calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty after five teenage boys of color were wrongly convicted in the rape and beating of a female jogger. Trump has refused to apologize for the ad, even after the five were exonerated.
“Now he’s got YouTube clips, he’s on TikTok and other things targeting Black men that don’t know the history from 30 years ago,” Williams said. “The problem is we don’t tell the true story.”
Some of Trump’s advertisements spotlight his ongoing criminal cases, suggesting he has been unfairly attacked by Democrats and the criminal justice system. Trump himself has claimed, without evidence, that his clashes with the courts have increased his popularity among Black voters, who have strong concerns about police misconduct and mass incarceration. Some Black male influencers on social media have made similar suggestions.
Byas, who raised the issue of foreign aid, co-founded an organization called Brothers United for Change that seeks to help Black male youths in Pontiac avoid getting caught up in the legal system. Black men, he said, respond to concrete initiatives — that’s part of why he supported Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primaries three years ago, after the candidate laid out plans for student debt cancellation and guaranteed housing.
Still, Byas plans to back Biden in this year’s election, calling him the “lesser of two evils.”
Williams said the Biden campaign needs to work harder to sell its successes. In Pontiac, for example, the city recently used American Rescue Plan funds to help seniors upgrade their homes. “I can now go to a Black man and say because of Biden, his grandma got her house fixed, and that makes a huge difference,” he said.
Some activists say Democrats should appeal to Black men by focusing on specific issues rather than on Biden himself. Darwin Griffin, NAACP chair in nearby Wayne County, recalled a Detroit ballot referendum in 2021 to establish a reparations committee that received more votes than any other candidate or issue on the ballot.
“The Black men seem to be like, ‘Well, what about us?’ If they don’t think they’ll be included, they’ll stay home, and Republicans know that’s an issue,” Griffin said.
Killian-Bey said he is looking for results over campaign promises.
After serving a decade in federal prison on drug charges, he returned in 2018 to a city in decline. Pontiac has seen its population drop from 85,000 in the 1970s to just over 60,000 today as residents of all races have moved into wealthier suburbs. Many of Pontiac’s assets, including Jefferson/Whittier Elementary School where Killian-Bey once played basketball, were sold off in the 2010s.
Still, he expected to have an easier time transitioning back into his community. He was educated, having spent two years at Oakland University. And the bank where he’d once worked as a loan officer was hiring again for the position. But the bank declined to hire him after learning about his felony drug charge.
He now runs his own business screen-printing T-shirts, as well as a reentry program helping other men exiting prison find their footing. But Killian-Bey scoffs when he hears the Biden administration tout initiatives to advance racial equity and help those exiting the prison system, saying he has never felt their impact in Pontiac.
“You know what the youngsters tell me? ‘What does it matter if I vote or not? We ain’t going to get nothing. Where’s the fruit? Why don’t we have a recreation center in Pontiac?’” he said. “I tell them to be independent enough to know any change starts with them, so they won’t wait around for someone to lie to them or disrespect them.”
He added, “Maybe then, they’ll run for council and actually get it done.”
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