Ohio Blacks Move to Bush
The long-standing alliance between Ohio's black community and the Democratic Party is falling apart in this key battleground state.
More black voters are allying themselves with the Republican Party, polls are showing.
Clergymen at prominent black churches in Cleveland told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that they are determined that Democrats no longer take their support for granted. "We can't be bound to any party," the Rev. C. Jay Matthews of Mount Sinai Baptist Church and president of United Pastors in Mission, told the Plain Dealer.
GOP national chairman Ed Gillespie told a luncheon at Cleveland's Urban League that there are signs that more black Americans are open to the GOP, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
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Gillespie cited studies that have shown that 35 percent of blacks ages 18 to 25 identify themselves as independent, and that from 2000 to 2002, the percentage of blacks describing themselves as Democrats dropped 11 percent, while the GOP gained 6 percent.
Moreover, the paper reported that their statewide poll in May found 15 percent of blacks supported Bush, 73 percent support Kerry and 3 percent support Ralph Nader. Nine percent of black voters surveyed said they were undecided.
Exit polls showed Bush received 9 percent of the black vote in Ohio in 2000.
Several clergymen told the newspaper that issues such as Bush's support of faith-based initiatives that give religious groups money to provide social services and his opposition to same-sex marriages are attracting black voters.
The Rev. Darrell Scott of New Spirit Revival Center in Cleveland Heights told the Plain Dealer that a younger generation of blacks who do not have the same emotional ties with the Kennedy-Johnson era of progress on civil rights no longer will automatically vote Democratic.
"We're able to make our own decision," he said. "We'll go either way."
Scott told the newspaper that he admires the president for standing firm on abortion and same-sex marriages, even if it costs him votes. But the pastor emphasized that he is just as wary of Republican political promises as those of Democrats.
"During the last election, a lot of black clergy became persuaded by the Republican Party because there was a great deal of talk about faith-based initiatives. In the four years since, I haven't seen a great deal of faith-based activity. ... Who in Cleveland has received some?" Scott asked.
"Election-speak is one thing. Reality is another," Scott said. "It's election time again."
Noting Gillespie's visit to a black Baptist church in Cleveland's Mount Pleasant neighborhood on Thursday the Rev. Marvin McMickle told the Plain Dealer: "I'm paying attention to the folks who are paying attention to me. It is going to be much more of a two-party environment as long as the Republican Party gives us some issues we can consider in good conscience."
Boxing promoter Don King, whose hometown is Cleveland, accompanied Gillespie on his visit.
The Plain Dealer reported that King said that while Republicans in the past have alienated the black community with apathy and prejudice, Bush is different.
It is particularly significant that the president has placed highly qualified black men and women in positions of power, such as secretary of state and national security adviser.
If the poll showing 15 percent of Ohio's black voters support Bush is on target, that could tip the scales come November.
Experts told the Plain Dealer that even a small increase over the 8 percent or 9 percent who voted for Bush in 2000 could be critical in battleground states such as Ohio.
URL:http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/7/9/130616.shtml |
