[Front Office Midget]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

At least for those among my friends and family, I think it's a combination of things...


1. They think Joe has the best shot at beating Trump.
2. They're more socially conservative than pretty much every Dem candidate, including Biden. (My uncle, for example, is in his 80s. Retired pastor. Marched with Dr. King. Was arrested for refusing to go to the back of the bus when he was in his 20s. Big civil rights guy, but until he retired in the mid 2000s, when his gay granddaughter would show up to church, he'd almost always slip something in the sermon pretty hardcore against homosexual behavior. I realize that this is anecdotal, but he's a pretty middle-of-the-road southern black preacher, who influences a significant portion of the black community in his town. I don't think he's by any means an outlier.) Goldwater calling the Civil Rights Act unconstitutional, The Southern Strategy, dog whistles to racists, and not calling out racists is what alienated black folks from the Republican Party--but not so much a total split on ideology in other areas. (Some of my Dem-voting family members are as strong on 2A rights as any NRA A+ Republican politician.)
3. Age. Now, as admitted above, my own circle of Dem friends trends older among blacks than whites. That said, I couldn't put my hands quickly on any stats to back this up, but my impression is that the average black voter is older than the average white voter. (For that matter, logically, one would expect that older blacks would value their vote more than any other demographic in the country because of proximity to being denied that right.) If that's correct, then that would feed the social conservatism to which I refer in #2.

Over-simplifying, they may be seeing #1 through their own biases as laid out in #2: ("Biden has the best chance of beating Trump, because he's the only one that isn't way out there!")

Thank you for taking the time to explain that. Helps to hear the perspective outside of one's bubble.