ABCNews.com(DIMONDALE, Mich.) — Doubling down on appeals to black voters that have become a mainstay of his stump speech this week, Donald Trump made a bold prediction about his ability to attract the support of the African-American community if he gets the chance to run for reelection in 2020.
“At the end of four years, I guarantee you I will get over 95 percent of the African-American vote. I promise you,” Trump said during a rally Friday in Dimondale, Mich., a town where in 2010 just 9 of the town’s 1,234 residents were black, according to census data.
Beginning with a speech outside Milwaukee on Tuesday, Trump has steadily increased his rhetoric geared towards African-American voters, saying that the group should give Republicans a chance.
“You’re living in poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58 percent of your youth is unemployed, what the hell do you have to lose?” Trump asked, repeating a question he posed to his crowd in Charlotte, NC Thursday night.
The ability to attract such a high level of support in four years would require a major turnaround from Trump’s current poll numbers.
On Thursday, Pew Research released a national poll showing Trump trailing Clinton 85-2 among black voters.
In President Obama’s two victorious campaigns in 2008 and 2012, he attracted 95 and 93 percent support within demographic, respectively. The Democratic candidate for president has won at least 82 percent support from African-American voters in every election since 1972.
Despite the disadvantage, Trump made clear that he believes black voters are making the wrong choice.
“No group in America has been more harmed by Hillary Clinton’s policies than African-Americans,” he said. “If Hillary Clinton’s goal was to inflict pain on the African-American community, she could not have done a better job.”
Copyright © 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
