For many Black men, Harris fails to catch fire

Talking to The Washington Post nearly a year ago, a Black Michigan voter said Black men were being overlooked by both parties. And the ascent of Vice President Kamala Harris, who is Black and Indian American, has not changed his mind.

In December, when President Joe Biden was the presumed Democratic nominee and The Post interviewed Killian-Bey and other Black men in the Detroit area, polls showed waning enthusiasm among Black voters for Biden and the Democrats. After Harris was nominated, a late August Washington Post-Ipsos poll found a significant jump in the number of Black Americans saying they were certain to vote.

But that shift was concentrated among younger Black women. Turnout interest hardly increased among Black men, with 66 percent saying they were certain to vote, compared with 63 percent in April, while turnout interest among Black women rose to 71 percent from 61 percent over the same period.

Black men's are complex. Some are inspired by Harris’s rise as potentially the first woman of color to become president. Others are wary, wondering whether her record really shows that she understands the community’s needs. And for a significant number, her emergence makes little difference: They stillcannot see themselves in the Democratic platform, and they face a difficult decision of whether to grudgingly support Harris, sit out the election or vote for Republican Donald Trump.

This mixed reception could be critical in states such as Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania that could swing the election, said Joe Paul, executive director of Black Men Vote. Black men stand to benefit from many of Harris’s policy proposals, Paul said, but she would be well advised to more explicitly address their particular burdens — spotty educational outcomes, disproportionate police violence, high incarceration rates — that stand in the way of prosperity.