Will Trump's response to recent shootings affect efforts to woo black voters?
In the presidential race, Donald Trump is leading Hillary Clinton in three battleground states. A Fox News poll shows Trump is ahead of Clinton by five points in both North Carolina and Ohio, and his lead in Nevada is three points.
But in a four-way national matchup with third party candidates, the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows Clinton is in front, with 43 percent, to Trump’s 37 percent among likely voters.
Campaigning in Florida Wednesday, Clinton called the recent police shootings “unbearable.” Trump said in Ohio he was “very troubled” by the event in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Trump struggled with the topic of recent fatal police shootings of African-Americans, reports CBS News correspondent Major Garrett. Police complained when Trump second-guessed an officer in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Trump also offered no new ideas on reducing officer-involved shootings. This could complicate Trump’s ongoing efforts to win the support of African-American voters.
“To me it looked like he did everything you’re supposed to do,” Trump said campaigning at the New Spirit Revival Center in Cleveland.
Trump spoke about the Tulsa shooting that left 40-year-old Terrence Crutcher dead and wondered aloud if the female officer choked.
“Did she get scared? Was she choking? What happened?” Trump said.
When asked how to reduce violence in the black community, Trump called for the nationwide use of stop-and-frisk tactics.
“We did it in New York, it worked incredibly well, and you have to be proactive,” Trump said on Fox News.
Recent CBS News polls place Trump’s support among African-Americans at only 6 percent -- two percent in Ohio where Trump campaigned Wednesday and 3 percent in Pennsylvania where he travels Thursday.
“To the African-American community, I say vote for Donald J. Trump. I will fix it!” Trump said in Toledo, Ohio.
Trump’s minority outreach in Ohio featured former boxing promoter Don King.
“He’s gonna fight for the rights of all the people,” King said.
But King sounded a sour note with a racial epithet used in a conversation about racial stereotypes.
“If you are intelligent, intellectual, you are an intellectual negro, if you are a dancing and sliding and gliding n****er, I mean negro,” King said.
In Toledo, we met K. David Johnson, pastor of one of the city’s oldest Baptist churches, one with deep roots in the civil rights movement. We asked him about Trump’s recent efforts to woo black voters.
“His
track record is minimal. And that is going to hold a lot of weight,” Johnson said. “If there is no closeness, there is
no trust that has been developed. And I think that’s probably going to work, as a matter
of fact, that is going to work against him.”
Johnson said Trump has kicked off a conversation about African-American loyalty to the Democratic Party and predicted the presidential debates will make a big difference. Trump has five events Thursday in Pennsylvania and will campaign through Saturday, leaving little time for debate prep.
Clinton has cleared her schedule completely to focus on Monday’s first debate.