Prior to his slide in the polls, Mr. Trump had enjoyed significantly higher support among black voters than previous Republican nominees, particularly in battleground states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.
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Trump traveled 45 minutes outside of Milwaukee, which is 40 percent Black, to deliver his appeal to African American voters in the suburb of West Bend, Wisconsin, a community that is 95 percent White.
However, this time Mr. Trump asked voters to consider whether Mrs. Clinton was being honest with minority voters and whether she truly had their best interests at heart, focusing on character and trustworthiness issues about which voters already have doubts. Pollster and senior advisor Kellyanne Conway was promoted to campaign manager and Breitbart co-founder Stephen Bannon was named campaign chief executive.
Then came the big pitch: “I’m asking for the vote of every African-American citizen, struggling in our country today, who want a different and much better future”, the GOP presidential candidate said.
But Trump said Democrats have “taken the votes of African-Americans for granted”.
“With each passing Trump attack, it becomes clearer that his strategy is just to say about Hillary Clinton what’s true of himself”, Clinton spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri said. He also said that Hillary Clinton sees communities of color as votes, not individual human beings.
Trump also said that Clinton was directly responsible for the recent unrest in Milwaukee and “and many other places within our country” and claimed that Clinton was “against the police”.
The riot in Milwaukee was the latest demonstration to turn violent after a police shooting.
Trump is not afraid to ruffle features – and that is exactly why many in the West Bend crowd are giving their support to him.
Given black allegiance to the Democratic Party, Republican presidential candidates have faced an insurmountable task in trying to win African-American voters in large numbers.
He said Democrats have “taken the votes of African-Americans for granted. I mean, in the end – don’t forget: When I lost Wisconsin, it was over for Trump”, he said, referring to his loss to Texas Senator Ted Cruz in April.
The poverty rate for Wisconsin’s Black residents was 39 percent and poverty rate for Whites living in the state was 11 percent, according to researchers from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
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“I will fight to ensure that every American is treated equally, protected and honored equally”, Trump said in a statement posted on Facebook.
