In N.C., some Black voters are uneasy with Harris's abortion rights focus

[mahatmakanejeeves]

In N.C., some Black voters are uneasy with Harris’s abortion rights focus

Democrats worry that socially conservative Black voters in the South are wary of Harris’s outspoken support for reproductive freedom.


Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally in Fayetteville, N.C., in July. (Cornell Watson for The Washington Post)

By Cleve R. Wootson Jr.
August 31, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

CHARLOTTE — Vice President Kamala Harris spent the second anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in this Southern city, comparing the people fighting for abortion rights today to the civil rights activists who refused to leave whites-only lunch counters six decades ago.

“We — all of us — are now called upon to advance the promise of freedom, including the freedom of every woman to make decisions about her own body, not the government telling her what to do,” Harris said in June.

But once Air Force Two had flown back to Washington and Democrats here began urging their family, friends and neighbors to vote for her and other Democratic candidates, their cold calls to strangers and polite post-church conversations rarely touched on abortion, Democratic volunteers say.

“We know that’s not a winner down here,” said Rosemary Lawrence, a longtime Democratic activist who is on the social justice ministry at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Charlotte. While she personally supports both Harris and reproductive freedom, she said, very little of her phone banking focuses on abortion.

{snip}

Emily Guskin contributed to this report.

By Cleve R. Wootson Jr.
Cleve R. Wootson Jr. is a White House reporter for The Washington Post. Twitter

[SheltieLover]

1. They think slobby cares about them?

Cripes...

[Deuxcents]

2. I'd be a lot more uneasy about what her opponent has in mind. Maybe they don't know?

[Scrivener7]

3. Can't get past the pay-wall, but the excerpt says people are not stressing the

abortion issues in their phone banking, and from that the article seems to be drawing the conclusion that voters are uneasy about Harris's abortion stance.

One absolutely does NOT equal the other.

The conclusion from the facts given that voters are uneasy with Harris's abortion stance is ridiculous. Is there some support for the conflation of the choice of phone banking script issues and voters' feelings in the pay-walled part of the article?

[LauraInLA]

11. You can use archive.ph if you'd like to read the article.

[JohnSJ]

4. "Some black voters"? How many? I doubt very many.

[Lonestarblue]

5. WaPo trying to put a negative slant on Harris support.

Local Democratic activists know their voters and talk about the key issues for them. Some of them may be against abortion, some may not. Abortion is not the only issue on the table, and drawing the conclusion that black NC voters may not support Harris is a stretch.

[bullimiami]

6. I'm sure "some" (insert group here) are uneasy with(insert policy here)

But is it a significant number or are you looking for an angle?

[wanderer54]

7. Conservative on social issues

Many Black churchgoers have traditionally been conservative on social issues like
same sex marriage and cannabis legalization
and abortion. This does not mean that they won't vote for Kamala Harris or others who support these issues

[Keepthesoulalive]

8. More clickbait

Last edited Sat Aug 31, 2024, 05:58 PM - Edit history (1)

They are a lot more uneasy with trees that bear strange fruit, police brutality, and a lot more issues than abortion.

[ColinC]

9. Abortion, next to marijuana legalization, has about as close to unanimous support on an issue as you can get

So no, we don’t need to worry about her stance.

[SharonClark]

10. The WP comments section is eviscerating

that post brilliantly.