ATLANTA — We're just over 100 days until the presidential election.
Some voters are calling for President Joe Biden to step down, citing potential health issues and age. Others wonder if Biden is losing support from Black men--especially when former President Donald Trump has mentioned growing support during a few of his rally speeches.
11Alive spoke with Black men leaders, business owners, and voters in metro Atlanta.
The barbershop is often known as a safe space for Black men to have open dialogue. Kerry Singleton, Jr. got a cut at JayDaBarber Grooming Lounge in Atlanta. He said his support for Biden remains unwavering.
"I believe that it is the only choice that exists in this election," Singleton said.
Singleton said he's a Morehouse graduate who studied political science. He even introduced Biden at an event.
The Trump Administration appears to be working to flip the Black male vote--even receiving support from Black hip-hop artists such as Sexyy Red, Waka Flocka Flame, and even influencers/models such as Amber Rose, who spoke at the Republican National Convention.
Singleton said the false sense of support could be connected to the stimulus checks given out during the pandemic, which Sexyy Red brought up.
"If the average American or the average Black Trump supporter could have been bought by $1200, then I can only imagine what these celebrities are selling themselves for, claiming they're in support of the Trump administration," Singleton said.
Jay Martino owns the barbershop. He said he's not seeing evidence that his clients support Trump.
"I'm not," Martino said. "Everybody who I'm talking to, kind of, feels the same way as me. Most of them are swaying to the Biden-Harris Administration."
Martino and Singleton said age nor Biden stepping down would not sway their support of the Democratic Party.
Gerald Griggs is the president of Georgia's NAACP. He's said he hasn't seen an uptick in support either.
"The NAACP has done internal polling," Griggs said. "And, right now, that particular candidate is running a 10 percent favorability with the African American community."
Griggs said that doesn't mean the Biden administration won't have to work diligently to keep that favorability. Griggs said both candidates will have to focus on addressing the kitchen table issues impacting Black men every day; protecting voting rights, law enforcement accountability, healthcare, economic development,--especially investing in small, Black businesses like Martino's shop.
"Anything that's going to protect us as business owners," Martino continued. "Having different grants--just different things for small business owners, a way we can survive, because during COVID, in 2020, a lot of us, kind of, struggled."
Griggs said that a candidate stepping down would not be a good idea, but a candidate stepping up is.
"Speak more to what issues are in Georgia, because the African Americans, in Georgia, typically determine the outcome of a presidential election. And neither candidate has done a good job," Griggs said.
Griggs said the NAACP is partnering with a few other organizations to have a civic engagement leadership roundtable to inform voters on Aug. 2.