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Trump to visit Detroit, US city with 80% African American population

AFP
Detroit, MI, United StatesUpdated: Sep 03, 2016, 08:23 AM IST
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The tack Trump has taken with America's African American population is basically one of: 'What have you got to lose?' Photograph:(Getty)
After his quickie trip to Mexico, the Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is again heading into dangerous territory. He will be in Detroit on Saturday, the US city with the largest African American population – 80%. 

In the city, Mr Trump will appear at a prominent black church, the Great Faith Ministries. 

On Thursday, the New York Times reported that Mr Trump would not be speaking to the congregation but only answering quetions that the church's pastor had submitted in advance. Mr Trump's campaign was quick to reply that he would speak for five to 10 minutes. 

After the back and forth, the pastor Wayne T Jackson got in on the act himself and said that talk of Mr Trump addressing the congregation was only “rumours”.  

We will not have to wait long to see whether the stroppy Mr Trump will manage to get a word in on Saturday but even if he should, and no matter what he might say to the people who come to hear (or see) him, it is difficult to believe he stands much chance of success. 

In surveys so far, Trump's votes among the African American community nationwide have added up to the low single digits. 

In Michigan, the Detroit Free Press reports, among African Americans statewide, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is getting 91% of the vote in the latest poll from the Lansing-based polling firm EPIC/MRA which was conducted last month. In Detroit, where the sample size is much smaller and the margin of error is greater, she gets 92% of the vote with 8% of those surveyed undecided.

Trump did not get any support in the poll from Detroit voters.

In other words, he got 0% of the vote. 

This was something that did not appear to trouble Mr Trump greatly earlier in his campaign, but he has been trying to make amends of late. This, according to the Times, is because in swing states like Pennsylvania, winning over even a few new African-American voters – they make up 12% of the electorate – could mean the difference. 

The tack he has taken with America's African American population is basically one of: “What have you got to lose?” 

Elaborating on that to them, he has said the democrats have claimed to speak in your name for decades – most African Americans tend to vote Democrat; 98% of the Detroit vote in 2012 went to Obama, Mitt Romney got 2% – but look at the numbers: you are hardest hit by poverty and unemployment, you live in neighborhoods plagued by violence, and you are stymied by failing schools.

To bolster his case, Trump points at the Democratic stance on immigration, claiming his rival would rather give jobs to new refugees than unemployed black youth.

The Times adds that Mr Trump believes his calls to end illegal immigration can transcend racial lines. 

(WION)