Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

Don Lemon Says He Had To ‘Correct’ Several Black Voters In Swing States Who Said They Supported Donald Trump

Don Lemon joins CNN's Dana Bash

Former CNN host Don Lemon said Tuesday that he had fact-checked black voters across battleground states who told him they supported Republican nominee Donald Trump.

Harris is lagging with black voters compared with other Democratic presidential candidates in the past several elections, particularly with black men, as Trump is gaining ground with the key voting bloc. Lemon said on “Inside Politics with Dana Bash” that he traveled to several swing states and talked to black voters, who said they supported the former president mainly for economic reasons.

“There’s a problem, and look, I went from battleground state to battleground state to battleground state. When they invited me to the convention, I didn’t just want to fly there, I said I’m gonna go talk to voters in battleground states, and I did,” Lemon said. “It was not curated, I went up to people just doing man on the street and said, ‘Who are you gonna vote for, black men?’ and time after time after time they said, ‘I’m voting for Donald Trump.’ Now the reasons why, most of the time they said, ‘Oh, for economic reasons’ or because ‘he gave me a stimulus check.’ And I had to correct them over and over and tell them that stimulus check came from a Democratic Congress and Nancy Pelosi and that Donald Trump actually held that check up so his name could be put on the check so they think they got the check directly from him.”

“Meanwhile, Joe Biden has given one or two stimulus checks as well, but they seem to not know or understand that. You can vote for whoever you want to vote for, but the reasons that you’re going to vote for them, I think, should be accurate and factual, and you should know why you’re supporting someone,” Lemon continued.

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A New York Times/Siena College poll found Harris holding a 63-point advantage among all black voters, standing at a lower percentage than President Joe Biden’s 81-point lead in 2020 and former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s 85-point lead in 2016. Harris leads with black male voters by 53 points, which is also lower in comparison to Biden or Clinton.

Harris particularly holds historically low support among black men between the ages 18 and 44 with a staggering 41 points, CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten said Monday. Former President Barack Obama had 81% of support among this demographic in 2012, which dropped down to 63 points for Clinton in 2016 and 53 points for Biden in 2020.

Black voters have also shifted away from the Democratic Party, as the support for Republicans among this voter bloc rose from 7% in 2016 to 15% in 2024.