On Thursday, NBC News released footage from its Deciders focus group series, one where Black supporters of President Donald Trump declared they do not regret their decision to vote for him, blasting the Democratic Party instead.
One of the key takeaways from the 2024 election was how Trump managed to appeal to men of all races. “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker summarized that from one panel of Black men in swing states who voted for Trump, one of the biggest takeaways was that “despite some disagreements with the president about his tactics, they are standing by their vote.”
During one portion of the panel, the focus group was asked whether they approved or disapproved of what the Trump administration has done since it took over, with five out of seven on screen showing their approval.
The focus group was produced in collaboration with Syracuse University, Engagious, and Sago. Margaret Talev, the director of Syracuse University’s Institute for Democracy, Journalism & Citizenship spoke about the other major takeaways from the session.
Talev emphasized that this is a niche group of voters who don’t represent the majority of Black men, but nonetheless, this is a group Trump targeted, thinking the party had taken them for granted.
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“More than overwhelming support for Trump, what I heard that was so interesting was just the total disillusionment with these voters with the Democratic Party,” she said.
Talev recalled one section of the survey which was not shown in the segment, where the panel was asked what their advice would be for the Democratic Party to recover, and one of them replied, “Quit,” sparking laughter from the others.
Welker showed another portion of the focus group footage, where the host asked what the group thinks are the key characteristics of today’s Democratic Party.
“I would say, ‘liars,'” one man replied. “A lot of people doing insider trading, a lot of people working for lobbyists and not for the people. Honestly, they’ve pretty much failed at everything.”
“I think ‘lost,’” he said, using a word to summarize the state of the party. “They are a lost group.”
“I’d add to that, with the lying, just a bunch of false promises,” another man added. “I would say ‘attack on our children,’” he said, going on to slam the Democratic Party as “just not really relatable. Just trying to sell a dream that’s not really reality.”
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“I would say ‘manipulation,’” another man replied. “To me it feels like they more want to scare you into following them than to go on what your heart really thinks should be done.”
After a few more answers, Welker replied that it was “so revealing” to hear these responses from voters, arguing the subtext is that their votes should not be taken for granted.
“That’s right and if you were a Democratic strategist watching this you would be banging your head against the wall saying, ‘But what about this? But what about this? What about them?’” Talev said.
She went on to argue that part of this criticism comes from these men’s experiences with the political system and part of it is from how they consume information, such as via memes and social media.
“But some of this is not that,” Talev said. “Some of this is their lived experience and their frustration with what is default-assumed to be the party that should have been representing them all along.”
