Christian Smith
(NewsNation) – As the 2024 elections heat up, President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump and independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Biden, seeking to shore up support among a core Democratic electorate, made stops in several swing states over the weekend, including Detroit, to court black voters.
After stopping at Morehouse College for a graduation speech in Atlanta, Biden is expected to highlight his administration’s policies that benefit the black community in NAACP Detroit Branch Annual’Fight for Freedom Fund‘Sunday night dinner.
Recent research suggests Biden’s support among Black voters has declined in key swing states compared to 2020, when he won 94% of the vote in Detroit, where the population is 78% Black.
“We have a long way to go in this election, but we are feeling great because of people like you,” Biden said in a small private meeting before the speech in Detroit, suggesting that Trump would reverse policies expanding health coverage and faculty. access for black Americans.
Meanwhile, Trump spent the weekend rallying gun owners, a loyal Republican bloc, at an NRA event in Texas. He urged them to turn out and vote, accusing Biden of “going for his guns” and claiming the Second Amendment is “up for a vote” in November.
The former president secured the NRA’s support after warning the group: “If they come in, our country will be destroyed in many ways, but the Second Amendment will be, it is under siege.”
Not to be outdone, RFK Jr. organized his own rally in Aurora, Colorado, as the independent candidate with 13% of the national vote aims to qualify for the upcoming debates.
“We gave them five national polls that show me, including the most recent CNN poll, that I’m at 15 percent,” Kennedy said. “Then I qualify for the debates.”
The dynamic is reminiscent of 1992, when Ross Perot briefly led incumbents George HW Bush and Bill Clinton before finally winning nearly 19% of the vote, highlighting how fortunes can change in the months before the general elections.
Biden’s visit to Detroit was his third stop in Michigan this year as he seeks to replicate his 3-point state victory in 2020, bolstered by overwhelming support in the largest city. Given the state’s outsized role as a presidential bellwether, campaign efforts are likely to intensify before November.
