Trump’s improved polling with Black voters sparks distress among liberal pundits: ‘I hate that storyline’

Liberal media pundits have refused to accept new polling that former President Trump’s polling among African Americans has improved since 2020.

In response to new polling showing that Trump may have nearly 25% of the Black vote eight months ahead of the 2024 presidential election, media figures like sports pundit Charles Barkley, CNN’s Bakari Sellers, MSNBC host Symone Sanders Townsend, and others have rejected the notion that such support exists for the former president.

Former MSNBC host Tiffany Cross summed up much of the reaction on the February 29 episode of the "Native Land Pod" podcast that she co-hosts with Angela Rye and Andrew Gillum, stating, "I hate that storyline," after declaring, "It’s just not true."

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Then-President Trump speaks with his prominent Black supporters at the White House in 2020. (Bloomberg)

A New York Times/Siena poll released on Sunday has sparked concern among some liberal pundits worried that President Biden is losing Black voters – historically a very Democratic voting bloc – to Trump.

According to the new numbers, 23% of Black voters support President Trump as of Feb. 2024. That number is a massive increase from where his Black support was in Oct. 2020, at 4%.

MSNBC conducted an interview with Black men at a barbershop in Charleston, South Carolina last month, to get candid perspective on why Trump appeals to them. Several of the men admitted that money is the reason.

Voter Anthony Freeman told the network, "Donald Trump has a reputation of being the money man." Another said, "I just think that Donald Trump, in spite of all the craziness he may have in his head, reading some of the things that he talks about what business I can kind of agree with."

That same voter, Thomas Murray, added criticism for Biden, saying, "As far as Biden, I haven't seen Biden really care about business like that. And my concern is having my business so that I can build generational wealth, so my kids can see and have something to take upon when I'm not here."

Bakari Sellers, a CNN political analyst, refused to accept this narrative on "CNN This Morning" Wednesday. 

The pundit trashed the NYT/Siena College poll and the people that believe it, stating, "If you believe that 23% of Black voters are going to vote for Donald Trump, I just want to go ahead and sell you that bridge in Brooklyn."

CNN anchor Kasie Hunt provided some pushback, asking, "So why are they telling pollsters that they will?" to which Sellers claimed Black support for Trump is merely anecdotal and heightened on social media.

"Is there discontentment among Black voters with what they’re seeing in Washington D.C.? The answer is yes. Is there a question or a disconnect between the policies that have been passed and whether or not they feel it in their pocket? The answer is yes," he said. "But we have to get out of this social media bubble where people run to the fact that Meek Mill is out here tweeting something that is pro-Trump or pro-Republican talking, or Killer Mike is out here traversing the land with Robert F. Kennedy and all of a sudden we’re saying Democrats have this base problem. That is not the case."

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Former Bernie Sanders campaign manager and MSNBC’s "The Weekend" co-host Symone Sanders Townsend denied Black voters are shifting to Trump.

During an MSNBC segment on Wednesday, she declared, "I do not personally believe that, you know, 27% of Black voters are going to vote for Donald Trump. I’ve been Black my whole life and that just flies in the face of everything I’ve seen." 

She also doubted that Trump will make inroads with women voters, adding, "I’m a woman, and I’ve seen what he’s said and what’s been happening and I doubt the women numbers."

Cross, who was fired from her MSNBC hosting gig in 2022, expressed anger over the narrative that Trump is attracting Black support before flat-out denying it’s true during an episode of her "Native Land Pod" podcast last week.

Cross gave her opinion in response to a viewer’s question, which was, "Why are some of our folks in our community still willing to support Trump after so much? He continues to be transparent about how he feels about our community. He has always been a racist and has never supported anything even when he was a Democrat."

"He’s never really been someone that we should trust and get behind, yet so many of us are still willing to support this man," the viewer added.

Cross replied, stating, "The math ain’t mathin’ here, guys. There is no large enough constituency of Black men supporting Donald Trump that could swing this election either way. When you look at the map of where Black voters live, it’s just not."

The former MSNBC host made a point about White people being the majority voting for Trump, and added, "It baffles me why the media is constantly pushing this storyline as though Black men could hand the presidency to Donald."

"It’s just not true and I hate that storyline," she declared.

New polling reveals that Former President Donald Trump is attracting a large chunk of the Black vote away from President Joe Biden. (Getty Images)

NBA legend and sports broadcaster Charles Barkley became heated in his response to Trump’s own comments about his Black support, noting that he would resort to physical violence against Black people if he saw them wearing a Trump mugshot shirt in public in support of the former president. 

"First of all, I’m just gonna say this, If I see a Black person walking around with a Trump mugshot, I’m gonna punch him in the face," Barkley told his co-host Gayle King during their CNN show "King Charles" on Saturday.

King pushed back, saying, "You don't mean that," to which the NBA Hall of Famer replied, "Oh, I mean that sincerely!"

Barkley’s response came after Trump’s remarks at a rally in South Carolina last week, where he suggested that Black voters love him because of his legal problems and mugshot.

He said, "You know who embraced [me] more than anybody else? The Black population. It’s incredible. You see Black people walking around with my mugshot – you know they do shirts."

During the CNN segment, Barkley added, "First of all, if I was at that [conference], I would’ve got up and walked out. That was an insult to all Black people. To compare Black history, where we’ve been discriminated against, to his plight."

Barkley addressed the issue again on Wednesday during an episode of his show, stating, "if you’re a Black person and you wearing a Donald Trump mug shot, you are a freaking idiot. And I’m only saying freakin idiot ’cause they won’t let me say what I really wanna say. But you can figure it out. It starts with an F."

The host did note he believes that "people can vote for who they want to." 

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Fox News Digital’s Scott Thompson contributed to this report.