ATLANTA — Black voters are Georgia’s largest minority voting bloc, making up roughly 30% of the state’s active voters. During the 2020 presidential election, exit polls showed that 83% of Black men in Georgia voted for Joe Biden, the Washington Post reported.
The Black vote was key to President Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia in 2020. The Peach state had the closest margin of victory of any state.
And this year, we’ve seen both Biden and former President Donald Trump’s campaign teams activate efforts in metro Atlanta in the last two weeks to reach that key demographic.
In June, Vice President Kamala Harris visited Atlanta to speak at the 100 Black Men of America’s national conference. And toward the end of June, Trump’s campaign hosted a roundtable discussion at an Atlanta barbershop.
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From Atlanta’s westside, to the suburbs of Sandy Springs and farther south in Fayette County, 11Alive interviewed three different men and asked them a question: “What matters most when it comes to the Black vote?"
Atlanta mentor and community organizer Marc Boyd in Atlanta's westside believes there isn’t a simple answer.
“I think about the divisions and the separation," Boyd explained. He points out how the Black vote can be divided further into different socio-economic levels.
“There's the poor Black vote. There's the middle class black vote. And then, there's the rich Black vote. Even those are even broken up and into their own little separate little categories,” he explained.
Boyd said he’s focused on key issues such as gun violence, education and addressing poverty.
“We’re basically overlooked by one party and taken for granted by the other,” he said.
Political strategist Dontaye Carter said representation matters, especially in suburbs like Sandy Springs.
“The Black vote has been so potent and so powerful. We've been fighting a system of injustice for so long,” Carter said.
Carter strongly believes the Black vote shouldn’t be put in a political box.
“Black folks have known we're not a monolith. That comparison is coming from the people outside of our community,” Carter said.
Ken Bryant, Fayette County’s NAACP president, said candidates seek out his county because of its demographic shift and its growing population.
“We're shifting from being a red county to being a purple county. It's viewed a lot more strongly now because the demographics have changed,” he said.
Bryant shared that in Fayette County, voting rights and redistricting are ongoing hot topics. He said the NAACP is nonpartisan and that supporting Black voters means keeping in mind diversity of thought, values, interests and needs.
“Health care and education, and voter rights and women's rights — we pushed for those issues,” Bryant said.
Carter said Black voters in battleground states like Georgia can easily become the deciding factor in 2024.
“We understand how powerful the Black vote is,” Carter said. “Now it's time to get something out of it.”