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Thursday, 28 March 2024

Biden says Black turnout key to winning election

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Biden says Black turnout key to winning election
Biden says Black turnout key to winning election

[NFA] Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Wednesday said Black turnout was the linchpin to his hopes of winning the White House in November and said African Americans would only achieve equality once they were in a position to build wealth, and voting was the starting point.

This report produced by Chris Dignam.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden landed in North Carolina on Wednesday, his first trip to the state since winning the nomination.

A Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll shows him and President Donald running neck and neck in the state.

Reporters asked the former VP about the close race as he got off the plane.

REPORTER: "Polls show a tight race here.

What gives you the sense you can win and what do you have to do?" BIDEN: "Donald Trump." REPORTER: "What about him?" BIDEN: "Gives me the sense I can win." At a Black economic summit in Charlotte, Biden said African American voter turnout was the linchpin to his hopes of winning the White House in November and reversing economic and social inequities that have held back Black Americans.

"The point is I believe we have a gigantic opportunity, a gigantic opportunity to fundamentally change the systemic racism and the systemic problems that exist in our system.

And I think we have to do it but only one way to do it- we gotta show up and vote.

I believe the American people are not going to be turned off.

I believe that no matter what this administration does to try to make it harder to vote, for everyone - not just people of color but everyone - no matter what, I think they are gonna vote." Biden has targeted North Carolina, where Republican President Donald Trump won by about 4 percentage points in 2016, as a state he might reclaim on Nov.

3rd.

Trump has visited the state a number of times recently, causing a stir earlier this month when he seemed to encourage his supporters in the key battleground state to try to vote twice, once by mail and once in person on Election Day.

Democrats have accused Trump of inflaming race relations with divisive rhetoric and are hoping to galvanize Black support at the polls.

The president claims that his policies have helped Black Americans.

About one-fifth of the electorate in North Carolina in 2016 was Black, according to exit polls, and turnout among African Americans in the state could decide the vote.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Wednesday showed the race also looked like a toss-up among likely voters in Florida and Arizona, two other swing states that are expected to play critical roles in deciding the election.

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