Black women on Harris's thorniest challenges ahead |
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images News |
By now, you’ve probably heard the message loud and clear from Democrats: This election is all about unity.
The Today Explained podcast team has been at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this week, and inside and outside the perimeter of the United Center, Democrats are buzzing with exuberance and relief: They now believe they have a real shot at winning the White House in 2024, and the party’s toughest issues are not a welcome topic of conversation.
Tonight, after accepting the party’s nomination earlier in the week from the campaign trail, Kamala Harris will appear in Chicago to close out the convention, carrying the mantle of the “renewed sense of hope” that Michelle Obama — and the rest of the Democratic Party — have bestowed upon her. First, though, Today, Explained sat down with three Black women delegates for Harris to ask about the thorniest challenges, from Gaza policy to identity politics, that Democrats will face in these next 11 weeks before Election Day. The delegates are:
Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, 58
Hala Ayala, former Virginia State General Assembly member, 51
Mo Jenkins, precinct chair in Harris County, Texas, 25
All three committed to cast their votes for Harris and consider it their role to support and defend Democratic Party policies. But we picked at the party’s scabs a little bit and found that even the most faithful Democrats were willing to acknowledge that Black voters and nonvoters are no longer the assured bloc of support they have been for decades and that the Israel-Palestine conflict has caused a worrisome fissure between the official party and young progressives.
Here's what they had to say. You can hear more of the discussion here on Today Explained.
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Gaza and the US policy on Israel remain an open sore for young progressives |
Americans’ disapproval of Israeli military actions in Gaza eased this summer, but 48 percent still disapprove, according to a Gallup poll conducted in June. This week, thousands of protesters, mostly keffiyeh-clad and young, were waiting for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris — or “Genocide Joe and Killer Kamala,” to them — in Chicago. On Monday, they gathered at Union Park and marched along a circuitous route outside the convention center to demand that the US end aid to Israel. They will march the same route Thursday ahead of Harris’s acceptance speech.
It's a live issue for many voters, but especially people like Hala Ayala, who is of Lebanese descent.
Ayala points out that Harris called for an "immediate ceasefire" back in March, and told us she’d met Harris and felt seen on the issue of Gaza. “I took that authentically because that's who she is, and I took that as there's more work to be done,” she said.
The issue of Gaza is also fraught for Gen Z politician Mo Jenkins. Nearly 50 percent of Democrats or Democratic-leaning young adults under 30 say they sympathize more with Palestinians than Israelis, according to Pew. That doesn’t always line up with the party’s loyalties: The Biden administration just approved the sale of $20 billion in arms to Israel over the next five years.
When her Black constituents complain to her about pro-Palestinian activists refusing to back a Black woman candidate for president or not paying enough attention to ignored wars in Sudan or Congo, Jenkins said she tells them that she needs to join the system in order to bring about change. When they ask why she’s leaving them in the cold, her response is: “‘I'm not leaving you in the cold … We're going to end up in the Arctic if I don't do the work necessary to make sure that Donald Trump does not become president.’” |
The Democratic Party no longer has the default support of Black Americans |
It won’t be clear until after the election whether Black voters will turn out for Harris as they have for Democratic candidates in the past, but much has been made in recent months about flagging party support among Black Americans.
Data supports the idea that the once-reliable Dem bloc has splintered considerably since 2008, with more Black would-be voters saying they plan instead to cast a vote for former President Donald Trump. This was certainly true when Joe Biden was at the top of the ticket, and now, even with Harris as the Democrats’ candidate for president, a significant share of Black voters are still leaning toward Trump.
Seventy percent of Black voters polled in July picked Harris over Trump on a hypothetical ballot, up from 59 percent who backed Biden in May and June polls, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling. But Trump's share of the Black vote also rose slightly, to 12 percent in July from 9 percent in May and June.
Ayala, the Woodbridge, Virginia-based delegate, says the party is well aware of this shuffling of allegiances: “Yeah, there's been a separation [between Black men and women on politics]. We've seen it. Like, we can't deny that.”
Jenkins said her Black male constituents in Houston often tell her they are voting for Trump “because he put a stimulus check in my hand.” She said she’ll remind them that their checks “got delayed because he wanted his name on it. … I think it's a confusion about the policy process.” Her concern is whether she and other Democrats can effectively set the record straight and make a case to enough of these Trump-interested Black voters ahead of Election Day. |
Identity politics could be a stumbling block |
This has been a very identity- and social justice-forward DNC. That is a realm Kamala Harris is comfortable in, but it also raises the question for Democrats: Will a focus on identity help them win the White House in November?
Many analysts have urged the Harris campaign to avoid talking outright about her race and gender. We asked our roundtable about the theoretical 49-year-old white man in Michigan, a toss-up vote who has voted Democrat in the past. Will Harris talking about her identity as a Black and South Asian woman undermine her chance of getting his vote?
Stratton, the Illinois lieutenant governor, said emphatically that the Democratic Party also needs to talk about economic issues that impact the whole middle class, to draw voters like him in with discussions of “workers’ rights and making sure that we stand with organized labor. There are a number of things that we're going to have to lay out when we talk about reducing gas prices and food prices and all of those other things.
"Those are things that everyday Americans are going to want to know.” |
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The Democrats call Black women the "backbone" of their party. We ask three Black women delegates in Chicago about making history, Gaza, and Black men voting for Trump. |
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Lionel Hahn/WireImage via Getty Images |
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Ben and Jen are breaking up … again. After months of rumors that the celebrity couple was on the rocks and headed for separation, singer-actress Jennifer Lopez has filed for divorce from actor Ben Affleck. Here’s a timeline of their 20-year, off-and-on-again romance.
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Hope is making a comeback. At least according to Michelle Obama. Earlier this week at the Democratic National Convention, the former first lady spoke about the vibe shift that has occurred in the spirit of the party as presidential nominee Kamala Harris has become the public’s “change” candidate. She acknowledged that voters had lost faith in the party — a talking point no one else has dared to touch.
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Speaking of “change” candidates: Former President Barack Obama also spoke at the Democratic National Convention, adding a philosophical perspective on liberalism in the United States. He emphasized that the race in November could still be close and that Trump’s campaign was a threat to the vast majority of people who “do not want to live in a country that’s bitter and divided.”
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Is an Israel-Hamas ceasefire close? It’s hard to say for sure. The United States claims that movement has been made on a “bridging proposal” that could end almost a year of war. However, this isn’t the first time talks of a ceasefire have gone nowhere. Part of what has made a deal hard to pin down is that Israel has the support of the United States, but Hamas currently has leverage with 109 Israeli hostages.
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Muddied waters: A 2021 estimate from the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund claimed that 2 billion people lack access to clean water. New analyses with more accurate data show that that number was way off — in fact, over half the world’s population, or 4.4 billion people, do not have safe household drinking water.
- Middle-class money advice: Feeling stuck about how to handle retirement savings? Our financial columnist has a few tips on how to think about investing and protecting your money for the future — especially if you want to build generational wealth.
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This is living rent-free in our heads: Meet the extreme renters who are taking “you’ll own nothing and be happy” to a new level, choosing to rent anything they can instead of making purchases on items like clothes, Christmas trees, and even caskets. [Wall Street Journal] Say cheese — even if it isn’t. New fermentation methods and artificial intelligence tech are bringing us closer to vegan cheese that tastes like the real thing — and that could come at a more affordable price point. [Grist]
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PamelaJoeMcFarlane via Getty Images |
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Love in the pods across the pond |
Here at Vox, we’ve been watching couples on Love Is Blind fall in love sight unseen for a while now. While we wait for season seven of the US series, some staffers have found Love Is Blind: UK, which premiered earlier this month on Netflix.
Podcast host Jonquilyn Hill and Future Perfect fellow Sam Delgado say the UK participants have surprisingly good conflict resolution skills, which makes for a sweeter watch than the American edition. “I'm actually rooting for the vast majority of the couples, rather than cringing at awkward or cruel moments between the contestants,” says Delgado. Hill agrees that there’s a refreshing quality to LIB UK.
“It’s messy, but a mature messy,” she says. “It answers the question: What if everyone on a reality dating show actually did the homework their therapist gives them?” Check it out — and look out for a full Vox review on the site soon. |
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Today’s edition was produced and edited by senior editor Lavanya Ramanathan, with contributions from staff editor Melinda Fakuade. We'll see you tomorrow! |
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