Weak African-American early voter turnout

By Annika Fagerholm 11/02/16

African-American early voter turnout to the polls is lower than it was in 2012 which could pose as a threat to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Clinton’s lead over her opponent Donald Trump has diminished rapidly with less than a week until Election Day.

The black vote in North Carolina is down 16 percent compared to 2012 while white early voting turnout is up 15 percent. Turnout. Other key swing states including Florida and Georgia also reveal a decline in African-American voters since the last election.

In the 2012 election Democratic black voters helped to outpace Republicans by about 10,000 ballots before Election Day.

President Obama expressed his concerns over the low black voter turnout in an interview on the “Tom Joyner Morning Show” Wednesday, “The African-American vote right now is not as solid as it needs to be,” he said.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings said, “They’re not doing enough in the black community. I have been screaming for months about this and nothing changed and now look what’s happening.”

So far 24.4 million Americans have voted early which is the largest mobilization of early voters ever in a presidential election. Americans will have opportunity to vote early up until 5 p.m. on the Monday before Election Day.