The last time a Democrat won the White House, he had enormous support from black voters; lower support from black voters was one of many reasons that Hillary Clinton lost in 2016. Marcus Ferrell, a political organizer from Atlanta, tells The New Yorker Radio Hour about the importance of turning out “unlikely voters” in order to win an election, which, for him, means black men. Jelani Cobb, a New Yorker staff writer and historian, points out that the four Democratic front-runners, all of whom are white, may struggle to get the turnout they need. Cobb tells David Remnick that Joe Biden’s strong lead may begin to fall after his weak showing among largely white voters in Iowa; Pete Buttigieg has very low support among South Carolina voters, and even faces opposition from black constituents in his home town of South Bend, Indiana. But Bernie Sanders, Cobb says, seems to have made inroads with younger black voters, at least, since 2016.
