Kamala Harris joined by Lizzo at campaign event; Donald Trump rallies in Pennsylvania – live

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Gloria Oladipo

Harris is panicking over the Black male vote – but polls don’t show full picture

With the US election only 17 days away, Kamala Harris is courting one demographic with particular fervor: Black male voters.

As new polls warn that Black voters – who have consistently voted for Democratic presidential candidates (at rates of at least 80% since 1994) – may be less enthusiastic about the Democratic party, Harris has released a new slate of policies specifically aimed at Black men. Her stated plans include increasing access to the cannabis industry and educational opportunities that would expand pathways to “good-paying jobs … [regardless of] a college degree”.

But some pollsters say that panic around Black male voters is exaggerated and that such narratives ignore their historical support of Democrats. They also note that the focus on Black men elides deeper nuances about Black Republican support as well gender differences in voting amongst Black people altogether.

“To say that for any reason we need to worry about Black men not supporting Harris or the Democrats is completely overblown,“ said Chris Towler, founder of the Black Voter Project (BVP), a polling initiative about Black voting behavior. “I think a lot of the story around this need to regain Black voters is coming from a mainstream media narrative built around really poor polling on Black voters.”

The latest national data shows that Black men and women overwhelmingly prefer Harris for president, the largest amount of Democratic support she has from any demographic. But some polls suggest that such support is eroding. A recent New York Times/Siena College national poll reported that 70% of likely Black male voters support Harris (down from 85% of Black men who turned out for Biden in 2020) versus 83% of likely Black women voters. Twenty percent of Black male voters said they would vote for Trump if the election was held today, according to the poll, a six-point increase from the percentage of those who voted for the former president in 2016.

Here’s more context:

Kamala Harris’s campaign is tapping into its star power ahead of the elections.

Lizzo and Usher are just some of the prominent celibrities backing Harris against her rival Donald Trump. Earlier this week, Lizzo revealed that she voted early for Harris, and Usher said last month that he was endorsing Harris.

This week, the campaign announced a fundraising sweepstakes to win tickets to an upcoming get-out-the-vote concert featuring “superstar musicians.”

“This one’s a real show-stopper,” read a fundraising email signed by Harris’s running mate, Tim Walz.

Other celebrities endorsing Harris include Taylor Swift, Barbara Streisand, Ariana Grande, Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, and others.

Good morning, and welcome to our continuing coverage of the run-up to the US election. We sit just 16 days from election day.

Today, Kamala Harris is hosting a get-out-the-vote event in Detroit, Michigan, for the city’s first day of early voting, alongside Michigan-born rapper Lizzo.

The Democratic presidential nominee will then travel to Atlanta, Georgia, for a rally with pop singer Usher. The eight-time Grammy-winning singer is currently headlining a three-day sold-out concert tour in the Atlanta. Early voting started in Georgia on Tuesday.

Harris is also preparing to campaign in several battleground states next week when she will be joined by former Republican congressowman Liz Cheney.

Later today, Donald Trump will hold a rally in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, where the former president and Republican nominee is scheduled to deliver remarks at the Arnold Palmer regional airport.

Here’s what else is happening today:

• Harris questions whether Trump is “fit to do the job” of president again. She used a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Friday to seize on reports that Donald Trump had been canceling media interviews to question whether he has the stamina for a second presidency if voters choose him over her in November’s election.

• In the past week, Trump has gone further than ever in branding his political opponents “the enemy within” and talking about deploying the military against them. The latest polling figures seem to mirror such sharply polarised rhetoric, with the seven crucial swing states almost split down the middle in allegiance.

• Harris announced this week that if elected president, she would fully legalize adult recreational cannabis on the federal level – the first time a presidential nominee has taken such an unambiguous stance on ending cannabis prohibition. The pledge sets Harris apart from both her opponent and her predecessor. While Trump and Biden now support some level of cannabis legalization, Harris is the first to explicitly state that ending prohibition is a priority.