New USA Today/Suffolk Poll Shows Decline in Black Voter Support for Biden in Michigan and Pennsylvania

President Joe Biden has experienced a significant decrease in support from Black voters in the key battleground states of Pennsylvania and Michigan, compared to the 2020 elections, according to a USA Today/Suffolk University poll released on Sunday.

In Pennsylvania, 56.2% of surveyed Black voters indicated they would vote for Biden today, a 20-percentage point drop from their support four years ago. In Michigan, 54.4% of surveyed Black voters said they support Biden, a 22-percentage point decrease from the 2020 election.

About 15% of Black voters are backing a third-party candidate.

David Paleologos, the director of Suffolk’s Political Research Center who conducted the poll, told USA Today that while there is a chance for Biden to attract some third-party voters, the president faces a unique challenge of retaining high support from 2020 while having limited room to increase support.

Other findings from the poll include:

• Former President Donald Trump’s Black voter support has slightly increased from 2020, with 10.8% backing him in Pennsylvania compared to approximately 8% four years ago, and with 15.2% supporting him in Michigan compared to 9% in the previous presidential election.
• In Pennsylvania, 16% of surveyed Black men support Trump compared to 6% of Black women. In Michigan, 22% of Black men back Trump compared to 9% of Black women.
• In Pennsylvania, a third-party candidate is supported by 16.4% of Black respondents, with 7.6% backing independent Cornel West, 7.4% supporting independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr., 1% supporting Green Party candidate Jill Stein, and 0.4% supporting Libertarian Chase Oliver.
• In Michigan, the results are similar. Kennedy receives 8% support from surveyed Black voters, West gets 6.2%, Stein 1%, and Oliver 0.2%.
• An additional 13.8% of Black voters in both states indicated they are undecided.