Biden's Black Voter Exodus: Panic Ensues as Trump Surges in Key Bloc

Biden's team is worried because recent polls show that Black voters, who are important to the Democratic Party, are not as supportive of him as they used to be. Some are even starting to support Donald Trump instead. To try to fix this, Biden and his supporters are working hard to reach out to Black voters. They're doing things like holding big events, like a rally in Philadelphia, hoping to get Black voters excited about supporting Biden again, like they did in the last election.

"Today's launch of the Black Voters for Biden-Harris coalition is yet another example of our campaign working diligently to earn every single vote," said Quentin Fulks, the Biden-Harris campaign's principal deputy campaign manager. "This coalition and the newly announced summer outreach and engagement programming serve as the next phase of our campaign's ongoing historic investments in outreach to the backbone of the Biden-Harris coalition - Black voters."

The numbers paint a stark picture. A recent Fox News Poll found Biden clinging to just 72% support among Black voters, a far cry from the 79% he enjoyed before the 2020 election. Even more alarming, a New York Times/Siena poll of six battleground states found a staggering 76% of Black voters rating the economy as "fair" or "poor" -- a damning indictment of Biden's economic stewardship.

-- Trump seizes opportunity, Biden campaign lashes out --

Ever the opportunist, Trump has wasted no time in exploiting Biden's weakness, holding a high-profile rally in the Bronx just last week -- a move that drew as many as 10,000 people in the bluest part of deep blue New York City. "Donald Trump continues to show just how ignorant he is. Hosting janky rap concerts to hide the fact that he lacks the resources and competence to genuinely engage our community," Fulks fired back, dismissing Trump's outreach efforts as mere window dressing.

But the Biden campaign's own efforts seem to be falling flat. Despite promises of "historic investments in Black media and outreach, creative engagement efforts, culturally competent content and innovative organizing initiatives," the president's approval ratings among Black voters continue to slide. The campaign accuses Trump of "running on an anti-Black agenda" and "talking down to Black voters," but these attacks ring hollow in the face of the president's own struggles to connect with this critical voting bloc.

-- Philadelphia rally a last-ditch effort to regain ground --

The rally happening on Wednesday in Philadelphia, where Biden will be with Vice President Kamala Harris and other Black elected officials, is seen as a last try to get support back. "Our campaign thinks Black voters should hear from us, Team Biden-Harris, and they should know we're working to earn their vote, not just expecting it," the campaign said, maybe admitting they got too comfortable after winning in 2020.

But Biden's got big challenges. A recent survey of key states by The New York Times/Siena College found Trump getting more than 20% of Black voters in a head-to-head with Biden. If true, that'd be a record for a Republican. And what's even scarier for Biden's team is the worry that Black voters might just stay home, without the excitement that got them out to vote in record numbers in 2020.

As summer goes on, Biden's campaign plans to do a lot — teaming up with community groups, signing up voters, making sure voting is protected, and talking to respected people in Black communities. But time's ticking, and Biden's team needs to move fast to stop losing support from a group of voters that could be really important in the coming months.