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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNYT: Bernie Sanders Lags Hillary Clinton in Introducing Himself to Black Voters
Even his own campaign advisers acknowledge that Mr. Sanders is virtually unknown to many African-Americans, an enormously important Democratic constituency.
Though he led sit-ins as a civil rights activist in the 1960s, helped the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr. pull off a surprising campaign victory in Vermont in 1988, and espouses liberal policy ideas broadly popular with many Democrats, Mr. Sanders has had little direct experience with black voters as a politician in a state that is 95 percent white. And they have been largely absent from his campaign events so far.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/25/us/politics/bernie-sanders-lags-hillary-clinton-in-introducing-himself-to-black-voters.html?_r=0
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CanadaexPat
(496 posts)KamaAina
(78,249 posts)And he was there this past weekend.
http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150617/PC1603/150619467/bernie-sanders-x2019-charleston-venue-for-sunday-switched-to-burke-high-gym
Initially, the Vermont independent had been scheduled to meet with supporters at the longshoremen’s union hall downtown.
Sanders’ campaign said they expect a large crowd, so they opted for the switch from the union hall to the school at 244 President St., near The Citadel’s Johnson Hagood Stadium.
“The response in South Carolina has been tremendous,” said Phil Fiermonte, the campaign’s field director. “The interest in Bernie and his message about rebuilding our middle class is resonating in South Carolina like it is in other states around the country.”
JI7
(93,617 posts)If he was he would have set up organizations in other states .
Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)Black voters swung the 2008 primary race to Obama. If Bernie wants to win, he will need to do more to court black voters.
He will get wiped out if Clinton gets 80-90% of the black vote during the primaries.
Who knew the overwhelming number of black folks in Iowa gave Obama the victory there? Obama had tons of white support. Why do people think only the black vote got him where he is? There was an incredibly diverse coalition of people and agendas that got him to the WH.
HooptieWagon
(17,064 posts)...as more donations come in. For now, he's doing the logical thing to concentrate his campaign on the early primary states, which happen to have a lower percentage of AA residents.
JI7
(93,617 posts)Would have started much earlier. O'malley tried but isn't getting much support.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)HooptieWagon
(17,064 posts)So was Obama. There is plenty of time still, Clinton is not inevidable.
JI7
(93,617 posts)And this time her support is even stronger.
HooptieWagon
(17,064 posts)She just has name recognition along with her strong negatives. There is no room for her to improve support. Bernie will gather more support as he becomes better known. And social media is burning up with Bernie.
JI7
(93,617 posts)And even when she was losing the black vote to Obama she still had high approvals among them.
Obama won by getting votes from people who liked her.
DemocratSinceBirth
(101,853 posts)eom
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)which happens to have around 30% AA residents. In fact, I'm pretty sure they make up the majority of SC Dems.
Bernie was down there this past weekend.
http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150617/PC1603/150619467/bernie-sanders-x2019-charleston-venue-for-sunday-switched-to-burke-high-gym
Initially, the Vermont independent had been scheduled to meet with supporters at the longshoremen’s union hall downtown.
Sanders’ campaign said they expect a large crowd, so they opted for the switch from the union hall to the school at 244 President St., near The Citadel’s Johnson Hagood Stadium.
“The response in South Carolina has been tremendous,” said Phil Fiermonte, the campaign’s field director. “The interest in Bernie and his message about rebuilding our middle class is resonating in South Carolina like it is in other states around the country.”
HooptieWagon
(17,064 posts)I think it was quite considerate of him not to inject a political event into a community in mourning. Those trying to convey this as racist are showing their desperation in their lies, smears, and fabrications.
Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)Ignore blacks at your peril, Bernie.
CANDO
(2,068 posts)Race bait alert right here folks. Your comment is a perfect example of race baiting.
Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)A Dem cannot win the Presidency without black voters.
It just isn't possible.
CANDO
(2,068 posts)Pretty obvious that's what I was speaking to. Your implication is race bating. Bernie isn't ignoring anyone and you know it. Your comment was a race bating racist comment.
tishaLA
(14,778 posts)like that the Democratic Party needs good turnout among African American voters, is race bating. Here's another fact: we need to get a good turnout, and a high percentage, of Latino and women voters, too. Mentioning those things is neither race baiting nor sexist, either.
CANDO
(2,068 posts)I shouldn't have had to point out the obvious.
Trajan
(19,089 posts)Not a single one? ....That is one bizarre claim you got there ...
tishaLA
(14,778 posts)so yes, it will be more than "none"--not what the poster suggested, anyhow, but you knew that--but it requires a large majority of African American voters AND strong African American turnout, which only happens with excitement and the sense that the candidate is willing to address issues specific to that community.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)Hell Romney and bush got a couple 10,000s of Black folk to vote for them ...
Ron Green
(9,870 posts)certain audiences?
KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)
uponit7771
(93,532 posts)
Octafish
(55,745 posts)Nothing like the race card.
CanadaexPat
(496 posts)
MellowDem
(5,018 posts)If Bernie is behind in the polls among minorities, it's because he's ignoring black voters, or sending a message they don't like.
Considering Bernie is massively behind in the polls in general to a household candidate, it seems like a real disingenuous, desperate meme.
But when you support a candidate that has used dog whistles against black candidates in 2008, you gotta do what you gotta do.
Spazito
(55,501 posts)Who has a tendency to use it most often, I wonder?
Number23
(24,544 posts)and actually don't want him to expand himself to appeal to other voters. They have made that clear so many times.
When the black posters on this board voiced concern about Sanders not addressing issues that affected black communities, we were told that we were "manufacturing outrage" and that our concerns were "fake." Now that EVERYBODY IN AMERICA is starting to voice those same concerns, some people here are STILL pretending that these concerns are "fake" or, even better, part of some pro-Hillary conspiracy.
Honestly, do these sound like the musings of people who want their candidate to actually win? Does this sound like something politically savvy people who want to actually change American politics instead of endlessly whine and wail would say? It has always sounded to me that these are people that are pleased as punch that only a very narrow, very small, very insular group of people are roused by Bernie's candidacy. I guess it is much, much easier to be "pure" when you've only got a handful of people to worry about.
Spazito
(55,501 posts)Hillary voters" being posted after this OP was posted, I couldn't help but think it was a response to this OP, in essence saying Bernie doesn't need to address issues affecting black communities, saying black voters don't count and Bernie can win without their support. It was quite jaw dropping in a WTF kind of way.
Number23
(24,544 posts)Black folks now support Hillary at the same levels, and I'm not even sure how I feel about that. But it is what it is.
The black posters on DU are all over the map re: Hillary. We have some really strong supporters (Tarheel_Dem) some equally as strong anti-Hillary posters (LiberalStalwart), Omalley supporters (JAG and bigtree) and some strong Bernie supporters (noiretextatique). I'm just mentioning a few as a point of reference. Most of us are on the fence and some are leaning one way or the other.
So I don't know what's up with the hostility and how anyone could think that it's a good thing, I really don't. Black folks as a national average may be clamoring for Hillary but those of us that are here are all over the place. For smart people, for POLITICALLY SAVVY and not reactive, closed minded and stupid people, there is an opportunity for dialogue here. But we've all seen how the attempts at dialogue by 1SBM and bigtree have gone lately. Yet another opportunity squandered.
It's like you said, it's almost as if they believe the man can win without minorities. Wishful thinking or stupidity? Either way, again, the only person it's going to hurt is Sanders.
Spazito
(55,501 posts)Hillary, Bernie and Martin are all good people with pluses and minuses, imo. I think DUers, in general, are all over the place, just like the black posters. Most aren't taking part in the nasty stuff but we know the squeaky wheel gets attention and some are here for the attention more than the dialogue.
Number23
(24,544 posts)by many of his supporters here as the rest of us. And you're right, all three of the candidates are good people.
tishaLA
(14,778 posts)Like that discussing race and electoral politics is "playing the race card" or "race baiting." It's like DU through the looking glass.
Spazito
(55,501 posts)DU has certainly changed.
kwassa
(23,340 posts)to shut down discussion of a topic.
It is also a well-worn right-wing tactic.
Bernie has not addressed African-Americans, or their concerns. That is a fact.
CANDO
(2,068 posts)Which must be singled out and pandered to? Raising the min/wage isn't a black issue? Protecting SS and Medicare isn't a black issue? What the hell are you people talking about? What is a black issue that is exclusively their own? I would say anything under liberal/progressive policies are all encompassing issues of every race/gender/socio economics. Now black issues are exclusive? That's hogwash. You want equality? Stop with the exclusive treatment shtick.
kwassa
(23,340 posts)He just did a masterful job of refusing to deal with anything other than economic issues on NPR.
The problem of racism is exclusive to blacks and other minorities. Bernie doesn't discuss it, despite all the recent events.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)
KeepItReal
(7,770 posts)Sen. Sanders' event in SC was postponed due to the massacre. 1-0 Hillary?
I'm gonna do my part to inform my people of all races about Sen. Sanders.
Hillary lost last time to a guy from Illinois that Black folks outside Chicago didn't know.
She's gonna have to fight to keep that support she appears to have at the moment from Black folks.
It's gonna be fun to watch.
JI7
(93,617 posts)Based on the relationship they developed through many decades.
AgingAmerican
(12,958 posts)nt
Tarheel_Dem
(31,454 posts)think that black folk will warm up to BS once we "get to know him". If Bernie breaks out of single digit support, I'll be shocked, and that will likely come from the Cornel West contingency. I'm willing to make the same prediction for the Latino community as well. Stop pretending that BS will EVER gain the kind of affection & support that the black community has for Barack Obama. That affection & support has successfully shifted to Sec Clinton, along with the rest of the Obama coalition.
AgingAmerican
(12,958 posts)Curious.
Nothing will stop or even slow down the Bernie Juggernaut the closer we get to the first primary. It's because his campaign is based on simple truths. No glitter. No country clubs or cocktail parties. Just the truth.
JI7
(93,617 posts)Black period knew him but most actually held him to a higher standard and supported Hillary. It was only after he could show he could win nationally that they started supporting him in larger numbers. The Iowa win helped with that.
But even before iowa he had been campaigning for the black vote.
KeepItReal
(7,770 posts)
dsc
(53,397 posts)He was, at most, the third elected black Senator in their lifetimes and for most of them he was the second. The notion that they didn't know who he was is absurd.
DFW
(60,186 posts)He can't have 20 different messages in all directions at once if he wants to be heard, and from the looks of it, he's doing an admirable job of getting himself heard.
William769
(59,147 posts)
sheshe2
(97,633 posts)William769
(59,147 posts)
ismnotwasm
(42,674 posts)
Le Taz Hot
(22,271 posts)by the NYT. Again. Here, give me a minute, I'll try to feign shock. I have two words for the NYT: Judith Miller
frylock
(34,825 posts)
BrotherIvan
(9,126 posts)About "tearing down Democrats?" Probably not.
sheshe2
(97,633 posts)mstinamotorcity2
(1,451 posts)I don't give a damn what their so called polls say. I talk to my friends and family and they know exactly who he is. In my opinion, Hillary is still doing Hillary. She is underestimating the people. and while I am at it, she is saying a lot of the right things, but she doesn't seem as though she believes what she is saying. She looks and sounds scripted. who ever is her campaign manager should tell her she doesn't seem natural. we can tell she has just been fed a bunch of facts and trying to weave them into the speech. It's not working for her. The flow is off. Just my opinion.
Bernie can have my vote with a bow on it. 
Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)kicked out the top floor window of a high rise. The polls are windows into the future.
Tarheel_Dem
(31,454 posts)
CANDO
(2,068 posts)If anyone fancies themselves a concerned citizen. Then that person educates themselves. Its not up to the candidate to introduce themselves to people who may have their head up their ass when it comes to politics. I find it incredibly demeaning to black folks to have them told they don't know enough about politics to not know who Sen. Bernie Sanders is. And it should never be Bernie's or any other candidate's responsibility to "inform" people who they are. I mean for fucks sake, how hard is it to google a candidate's name and find their website and educate one's self on their stances? "Oh I'm for Hillary because I don't know who Sanders is"......give me a fucking break!!! 
MineralMan
(151,269 posts)Really? They don't, frankly. More's the pity. The vast majority of voters get their information from the major network news programs and from campaign ads. That's the reality. Now, during the primaries, the percentage of voters who actually try to learn something on their own is a bit higher, but not that much.
I canvass a precinct in Minnesota, and I can tell you what I hear. Most of the people I talk to who are active voters know very little about the candidates other than what has appeared in their campaign ads and sound bites on the evening news. And that's only for the candidates for President, Senators, and House Members. Even then, they are information-poor. My job is to give them more information and try to convince those who are unsure if they are going to bother to vote at all to go to the polls and vote.
Less than 10% of actual voters really bother to go learn about candidates on their own. DU is such a self-selected group of politically-interested people that is unrepresentative of actual voters. We care a lot. Most voters care much less about positions and policy matters, except where they are directly affected.
Yes, if voters don't really know who Sanders is, they won't vote for him. It's up to Bernie Sanders and his campaign to become known to voters. If they fail in that and fail in showing all voting blocs why Sanders deserves their vote on issues important to those blocs, he will lose spectacularly.
CANDO
(2,068 posts)If only 10% of voters give a shit enough to research candidate stances ahead of their vote. Pretty demeaning of the entire process to expect a candidate to overcome citizen laziness and stupidity. No wonder we are so f***ed as a country. We blame candidates for citizen ignorance. If anyone is so lazy to not do a simple search, then I'd rather they stay the hell away from the voting booth. God I don't know why I even give a shit, but I do.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)As that poster is demonstrating, some Bernie supporters can't even get on their own page, let alone, Bernies.
He/She is saying, at once, "Black people don't know who Bernie is, once they know him they will love him" AND "Screw the Black vote ... If they are too unconcerned to get to know Bernie."
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)That's NOT what the Black electorate is saying ... that is what Bernie's supporters have been saying.
Jamaal510
(10,893 posts)most preferred candidate on the D side, but now I'm starting to look at Martin O'Malley. From what I heard about MO so far, his message is more balanced, offering both an economic plan and being vocal on social issues. Unfortunately he sits at 3rd place with maybe 1-2% in various polls, and the race might already be decided when it's time for me to vote. Then again, who knows? There are still months to go and several debates to go through. One thing is for certain: I have no problems voting for whoever wins the nomination.
Omaha Steve
(109,230 posts)He has been getting good press. He is in Iowa Sunday. If he starts getting some traction....
wyldwolf
(43,891 posts)“... who is pretty much white,” said Paul Maslin, a pollster who worked for the 2004 presidential campaign of Vermont’s last Democratic contender, Howard Dean. “I don’t see how Bernie takes large numbers of black voters away from Hillary Clinton, and he needs to if he wants any shot at the nomination.”
Tarheel_Dem
(31,454 posts)
SamKnause
(14,896 posts)I am a 61 year old white female. (He got the white part right)
I have never owned a Volvo.
I am not financially comfortable.
Disabled living on SSDI.
I support Bernie Sanders based on his policies.
I think as he gets more attention and people get to know his
policies and political track record, he will gain support from
many people across the U.S.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)Nobody knows. We'll see what happens.
Cha
(319,079 posts)Thank you, YoungDem.
Number23
(24,544 posts)So am I misreading this and he was in Charleston to "introduce" himself to black folks BEFORE the shootings? The article makes that part unclear.
"As for Mr. Sanders, he said, “I’m not hearing Bernie Sanders’s name at the barbershops.”
There it is. He's got much, MUCH work to do.
grasswire
(50,130 posts)Could change everything.
tishaLA
(14,778 posts)especially after his spectacularly personal, vitriolic comments about the President.
kwassa
(23,340 posts)NanceGreggs
(27,835 posts)Just not in the way you think it would.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)just ask any white liberal!
SidDithers
(44,333 posts)Sid
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)Stop it! 
uponit7771
(93,532 posts)hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)
Zorra
(27,670 posts)telling people that African Americans don't know who Bernie Sanders is.
Don't be fooled, minorities in the US are a whole lot smarter, and more aware, than Clinton supporters are telling them they are.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)that Black folks don't know who Bernie is. It's their way of explaining away his tepid reception in the Black community. Once we know who he is, we'll just love him!
Number23
(24,544 posts)It's not Clinton people saying black folks don't know who Sanders is. It's Sanders people saying the only reason Hillary has 87% support in the AA community is because of "name recognition" which will magically disperse the second people start to "learn" who Bernie is.
It's not only condescending it's also easily one of the dumbest things I've ever seen here. If your "winning" strategy is that people will start to love a man once they get to "know" him despite the fact that he's been in Congress for TWENTY FIVE years, then I don't what to tell you.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)Sadly, that is the thought process.
But now the DU narrative is Democrats/the Left (read: Bernie ) really doesn't need the Black vote.
I'm sorry ... that is the single stupidest writing on DU ...EVER!
Number23
(24,544 posts)no Dem can win without a sizable number of minority votes.
Yep, this is "race baiting" on DU now. The creators of this joint must be so thrilled. 
wyldwolf
(43,891 posts)They are. 
Look at the quote in my signature.
Tarheel_Dem
(31,454 posts)1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)that there will likely be a number of Black voters that will vote for Bernie in the primaries.
Wait ... didn't you point out somewhere that Black DUers are all over the map in our support?
Number23
(24,544 posts)Tarheel_Dem
(31,454 posts)
uponit7771
(93,532 posts)Tarheel_Dem
(31,454 posts)I agree with you, except that it's not Clinton supporters who are saying it. We already know BS. Anyone with a teevee knows BS, which is why he remains mired in the single digits in AA support.
SidDithers
(44,333 posts)but still choose Clinton at over 80%.
Have I got that right?
Sid
seveneyes
(4,631 posts)
mmonk
(52,589 posts)1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)Orsino
(37,428 posts)But we already knew about the name-recognition thing.
SidDithers
(44,333 posts)Sid
merrily
(45,251 posts)uponit7771
(93,532 posts)... with issues that were important to Blacks and Hispanics and did the same thing Bernie is doing and couching those issues as economic ones or avoiding going right at them altogether.
He has a chance to change this, its early