The presidential campaigns for President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump understand the importance of courting Black voters this election cycle.
National and swing state polling indicates the two candidates are running neck-and-neck. Although Black voters have historically favored the Democratic Party, including in the last presidential election, when Biden earned 92% support from this demographic, a shift is underway. A Pew Research study conducted when President Joe Biden was still at the top of the Democratic ticket, found some Black voters, especially younger ones, were shifting to the Republican Party.
Since the Democratic Party ushered in Harris only a few weeks ago, making it official this week at the national convention in Chicago, it’s unclear if she will change Black voters’ preferences. So, who will win Black voters this year?
Black voters strongly support school choice
Rev. Joshua C. Robertson from Rock Church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal, wrote that the Black community wants “education freedom” for their children. Robertson, the founder and CEO of Black Pastors United for Education, was referring to policy adopted in several states that allows parents to pick the educational institution right for their child. A July poll from the Freedom Coalition for Charter Schools found parents of color strongly support school choice.
“Over 70% of Black and Hispanic voters have said for many years that they support having more options and not being consigned to schools based on your residential address,” said Erika Sanzi, the outreach director at Parents Defending Education. She said that “the lowest amount of support” for this policy comes from progressives, who “also happen to be white.”
“But what has happened over the years is that even though the Black and Hispanic communities felt this way about school choice, they were still very loyal to the Democratic Party,” Sanzi added.
Trump advocated for school choice during his 2016 presidential campaign — calling it “the new civil rights issue of our time” — and promised to expand access to different schooling options. He lived up to his word in 2020, during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, when he issued a temporary executive order that allowed states to repurpose federal funds and allot it to low-income families without access to in-person schooling, as USA Today reported at the time.
Parents had the opportunity to use these “emergency learning scholarships” for homeschooling, tutoring or other education services.
Trump’s move remains popular, especially post-pandemic, when learning loss, shaped by COVID-19 lockdowns and remote schooling, remains a top concern for parents.
Trump’s 10-part education policy is laid out in his Agenda47, which includes creating universal school choice and restoring parental rights. Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, is in lock-step with him on this policy.
Why Harris and Walz don’t endorse school of choice
Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, oppose school vouchers, arguing state funds should be directed to enhancing the existing public school system, instead of creating alternative options like charter schools.
Harris has time and again aligned with teachers’ unions, which are also against school choice policies. Harris supported a teachers’ strike in 2019 and backed raising teachers’ pay, as The New York Times reported.
Anthony J. de Nicola, the chairman of Invest in Education Coalition, said the 2024 Democratic ticket is “bankrolled by teachers’ unions,” which is why they are willing to prioritize “special interests over parents and their children.”
Walz has routinely criticized school choice, calling in a “scheme” on a podcast appearance in 2023.
“Whenever you come up with one of these schemes — and that’s exactly what they are — to transfer wealth to folks on the backs of these students, we already know that we’re going to underfund public schools that are already underfunded. And we know that about 70% of those students that are going to receive those vouchers or whatever they’re calling them are already attending those schools,” he said.
“What we end up doing is subsidizing folks who are already attending private, religious schools, whatever it may be, or homeschooling, and it leaves our teachers in the short,” Walz said.
In his op-ed, Robertson said the Minnesota governor didn’t work with the state legislature to pass education savings accounts (ESAs) or vouchers, because Walz doesn’t want to “defund our public schools.”
“This is a gross misinterpretation of ESAs and vouchers. Black families don’t want to harm our public schools financially. We want properly funded public schools and education freedom at the same time. It’s possible if our leaders don’t play politics,” the pastor added.
“This presidential election is tremendously important to Black Americans,” Robertson said. “We need to elect leaders who have the compassion, as well as the courage, to enact the wishes of the people.”