President Obama is continuing his efforts to ensure Black voters know there’s still much to be done at the polls as the election approaches.
The Commander-In-Chief got straight to the point during a recent discussion on The Tom Joyner Morning Show, where he spoke specifically about the early turnout from African-American voters.
“I’m going to be honest with you right now, because we track, we’ve got early voting, we’ve got all kinds of metrics to see what’s going on,” President Obama said. “Right now, the Latino vote is up. Overall vote is up. But the African-American vote right now is not as solid as it needs to be.
POTUS’ comments come as early voting numbers continue to roll in this week, while the rest of the country gears up to hit the polls on November 8. Given that the African-American community has historically taken advantage of early voting provisions at a higher rate than any other group and also given the massive amount of voter suppression efforts that have been put in place by Republican lawmakers, the low turnout thus far is certainly cause for concern.
Subscribe to our daily newsletter for the latest in hair, beauty, style and celebrity news.
Doing all he can to stress the importance of electing a president who will aim to continue the progress he’s made over the last eight years, President Obama also spoke directly to those who may be hesitant to support Hillary Clinton. “I know that a lot of people in the barber shops and the beauty salons and, you know, in the neighborhoods who are saying to themselves, ‘Well, you know, we love Barack. We especially love Michelle. And so it was exciting and now we’re not excited as much,’” he added. “You know what? I need everybody to understand that everything we’ve done is dependent on me being able to pass the baton to somebody who believes in the same things that I believe in. So if you really care about my presidency and what we’ve accomplished, then you are going to go and vote.”
The latest early voting statistics show that the Black voter turnout is down 16 percent in comparison to the last presidential election in 2012, according to Politico.