CNN political commentator Van Jones said Thursday that life is “worse” for black Americans under President Joe Biden’s administration.
Jones said inflation has inflicted pain on the African American community, who had high hopes for the 2020 presidential election. “It got worse,” Jones said. “You’re going through a summer now of real heartbreak with black voters, the polls show that. I think Biden’s got to take that very seriously.”
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Van Jones argued the Biden administration has communicated poorly with the black community and that no one in the community knows that the administration provided billions of dollars for historically black colleges, and appointed more black women onto the federal bench. (RELATED: Pete Buttigieg Shocked To Learn Black People Aren’t Happy With Democrats)
“They’re doing stuff, they’re just not communicating it,” he said. “If I were the Democratic Party right now, the black community is a firewall. They need to be spending a lot of money on black radio, a lot of money in black media to just point out the fact that Joe Biden is there for the black community and is doing stuff. The particular pain is not being addressed aggressively enough.”
A recent CNN poll found that the president holds a 43% disapproval rating among black voters, while 57% approve of his job handling. “It’s a big number for a Democratic president,” Jones said. “There’s is a way to overcome it.”
Van Jones also argued that black Americans are frustrated by the administration taking drastic measures for other groups, including funding $13.6 billion towards humanitarian and security assistance for Ukraine, and pushing for a hate crimes bill for Asian Americans.
Biden’s support among the black community has tanked in many polls in the past several months. A Marquette poll released in March found that his approval stood at 56%, a 32% drop from July 2021.