CNN: Black Southern Voters Not Likely to Turn Republican

Black voters in the south are likely to continue voting Democrat, even if they disagree with the party on various issues, a political expert told CNN.

"As long as the Democrats maintain a perceptual advantage on issues related to race – whether we're talking about policing, whether we're talking about income inequality, whether we're talking about immigration, whether we're talking about healthcare – these are things that would give people of color a very rational reason to continue to support the Democratic Party even if they disagree with the Democratic Party on some issues or complain about outreach and other kinds of things," Andra Gillespie, a professor at Emory University, told CNN.

Gillespie contended, Democrats are relying on drawing more Asian-Americans and Latinos, as well as more black people to sure up their base, given that Republicans do not offer any attractive alternatives to those groups.

"So it's more about turnout than it is about persuasion because that perceptual disadvantage is real and has been fully enforced by the behavior of Republican officials," Gillespie said. "Not just in recent years but in the last 20 years, in the last 10 years, in the last five years, and last week or yesterday when President Trump tried to take credit for putting Juneteenth on the map."

President Donald Trump took credit Thursday for bringing prominence to Juneteenth, the celebration of the end of slavery. He told The Wall Street Journal, "I made Juneteenth very famous."

Gillespie said if Republicans keep making these types of missteps, it will be harder to court black voters moving forward. She even suggests comments like these might not be simple mistakes, but subtle digs meant to demean black people.

"That is the disconnect that is making it really difficult for the Republican Party to reach out to people of color because these mistakes keep on happening and in the minds of many people, they're not mistakes; they're intentional," Gillespie said. "It's evidence of a callous disregard for the concerns and lived experiences of so many people in the United States."