More than three-quarters of African-American voters say they are enthusiastic about Joe Biden’s candidacy, while Bernie Sanders is in second in that measure. | Sean Rayford/Getty Images 2020 elections Poll: Black voters favor Biden, consumed by pocketbook issues ahead of 2020

A new poll conducted for a black political group shows former Vice President Joe Biden continuing to hold a big enthusiasm advantage over his 2020 presidential rivals, while other Democrats have a chance to make inroads by focusing on the pocketbook issues of paramount importance to African American voters.

Seventy-six percent of African American Democrats who answered the survey said they are enthusiastic about Biden, while 16 percent said they had some reservations or felt uncomfortable with his candidacy. The next closest candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, drew enthusiastic views from 64 percent of black Democrats, but 28 percent said they had some level of discomfort with him.


Sens. Kamala Harris and Cory Booker, the most prominent black candidates running for president in 2020, generated enthusiastic responses from 53 percent and 43 percent of black Democrats, respectively.

The survey commissioned by the Black Economic Alliance comes ahead of the group’s forum in South Carolina this weekend, where it is seeking more information from presidential hopefuls about their plans to advance economic opportunities for African Americans.

The survey, which was conducted by two Democratic polling firms, Hart Research and Brossard Research, found a three-way split on the top issues on the minds of African American voters, with 77 percent of respondents each saying that affordable health care, college affordability and creating more jobs with benefits were “extremely important issues.”

Health care generally polls as the top policy issue among Democratic voters, regardless of race. But the memo accompanying the poll’s findings also stressed that black Americans feel they’re facing “significant economic challenges in their own communities.”

“Black Americans view the economic conditions in the United States as significantly worse for Black communities than for the country overall,” wrote the memo’s authors, strategists Guy Molyneux, Mario Brossard and Corrie Hunt. “Fully 72 percent of Black Americans say they are dissatisfied with the economic situation for Black Americans today (including 37% very dissatisfied), compared with 57 percent who are dissatisfied with the state of the U.S. economy in general.”

The poll measured views of eight candidates: seven Democrats and President Donald Trump, whose job approval rating among African-Americans clocked in at 13 percent, with 82 percent disapproving.

Akunna Cook, executive director of the Black Economic Alliance, said there’s a strong correlation between how well-known the Democratic presidential candidates are and how much enthusiasm they generate — part of the impetus for putting on this weekend’s forum in South Carolina.

People know Biden, Cook said — “Obviously, he’s a former vice president, he’s polling very high. [Pete] Buttigieg is the lowest, but he’s also the least familiar of these candidates. So I think that as voters get to know these candidates, they’ll be in a position to really compare them.”