Bessent: Democrats try to have it both ways with black vote

Can Democrats run away from President Barack Obama and then count on black voters to drag them over the finish line?

That’s the bet the party made this year in key states like Kentucky, Georgia, Louisiana and North Carolina as Democrats fought what looked like might be a losing battle to retain control of the U.S. Senate.

Obama is toxic in those states. And his popularity has plummeted across the nation among women, people younger than 30 and Hispanics, all key components of the coalition that put him in office.

That’s why Republicans talked about Obama — incessantly — in this year’s campaign.

But his approval rating among blacks remains north of 80 percent. So Democrats have tried to have it both ways.

For most of the party’s candidates, Obama was persona non grata. They rarely spoke his name. The low point had to be when Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes —  who lost her bid to unseat Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in Kentucky —  wouldn’t even say whether she voted for Obama.  

But as Election Day neared, Obama and other Democrats were on black radio stations trying to rally the vote. They needed it. For instance, on Tuesday in North Carolina, 95 percent of black voters cast their ballots for incumbent Democrat Sen. Kay Hagan, according to exit polling.

In 2012, black voter turnout (66.2 percent) topped white voter turnout (64.1 percent) according to the U.S. census. Even in the 2010 midterm elections, when Obama wasn’t on the ballot, the black vote share was higher in states such as Georgia and Louisiana than it was for his historic 2008 win.
 
Democrats needed a repeat of that kind of turnout to have any hope of retaining control of the Senate. But Democrats dissing Obama may accomplish what the GOP couldn’t do by limiting early voting and imposing ID requirements: Suppress the black vote.