Majority of Likely Black Voters in House Battleground Districts View Democrats as More Extreme Than GOP: Survey

Thirty-seven percent of the back likely voters questioned in the May 6-8 survey by the Washington-based survey research firm said the Republican Party is the more extreme.

Overall, the Republicans lead the Generic Congressional Ballot poll in Republican-held districts by 47 percent to 43 percent, by the same percentages in Democrat-held districts, and by 43 percent to 42 percent in open seats among the 39 districts.

Another significant finding in the survey is the fact a big majority of voters—54.2 percent versus 45.8 percent—plan to vote before the November 5 Election Day.

Only 45.8 percent of the respondents said they plan to vote on election day, compared to 36.2 percent who said they will cast their ballots by mail and 18.1 percent who plan on voting in person on early voting days.

“Blacks are up six points with Republicans on the Generic Congressional Ballot since March. The reasons are a mixture of seeing the Democrats as more extreme, viewing the country as headed in the wrong direction, and concerns about the costs of living. This also feeds some Trump nostalgia among key voter groups like blacks, married women, and college-educated women,” Cygnal’s vice-president for polling, Brock McCleary, told The Epoch Times.

Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas), one of a steadily growing band of black Republicans in Congress, told The Epoch Times that he’s not surprised “that black Americans view the Democratic Party as more extreme than the Republican Party, especially when you consider the history of the Democrat[ic] Party and their treatment of black Americans in this country. The left has worked hard to erase and rewrite the history of the Civil War, Jim Crow, and the Democrat[ic] Party’s treatment of black Americans.”

The Texas Republican added that he believes “the policies of this administration have been catastrophic for the black community and as a result, many traditional black democratic voters are considering a first-time vote for a Republican this November. This bodes very well for President Donald Trump.”

Mr. Hunt represents the 38th congressional district of Texas, which is a heavily Republican and suburban area of Northwest Houston. A West Point graduate, Mr. Hunt was an AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter pilot.

Sentinel Action Fund’s president, Jessica Anderson, pointed to the Cygnal survey and the May 13 New York Times poll as the latest evidence that “it is clear that voters are tired and fed up with Democrat leadership. Many voters across demographic groups and even across the political spectrum are beginning to reject the Left’s extremism and consider other candidates ahead of this year’s election.”

Ms. Anderson cautioned, however, that elections, in the final analysis, are decided in large part by voter turnout. She believes the Democrats’ current troubles will prompt a blizzard of questionable tactics to get their supporters’ votes counted.

“Especially after seeing these polls, Democrats are going to use every dirty tactic possible to turn their voters out. For Republicans to compete and win, we must build enthusiasm by talking about the policy issues and using all legally available tools to reach and turn out voters — including early and mail-in voting,” Ms. Anderson told The Epoch Times.