Biden books BET interview on swing-state trip to reverse slipping black, Latino support
President Biden will sit for an interview Tuesday in Las Vegas with BET as he makes a campaign trip to swing-state Nevada to shore up slipping support among black and Latino voters.
Biden, 81, also will speak to the NAACP National Convention in Sin City Tuesday — and then address on Wednesday the UnidosUS Latino advocacy group’s conference, also happening in Las Vegas.
It’s unclear when the interview with BET’s Ed Gordon will air.
Biden is trailing former President Donald Trump, 78, in most national and swing-state polls, including in Nevada, where Biden beat Trump in 2020.
Voters rank among their top issues record-breaking illegal immigration and economic issues including elevated inflation and interest rates, which are major liabilities for the incumbent.
Some polls show Trump within striking distance of Biden among Latino voters and potentially on course for a jump in black support, which could tip the balance in critical states.
A Pew Research Center poll released in April found that 44% of Latinos would vote for Trump, versus 52% for Biden.
In 2016, Trump was supported by just 26% of Latinos and boosted his share to 38% in 2020, according to exit polls.
A New York Times/Siena College survey released last month found that Trump, who staged a large South Bronx rally in May, is supported by 29% of black New Yorkers and 26% of Latino residents.
That would be a significant change from 2020 when Trump was supported by just 6% of black New Yorkers and 22% of Hispanics, according to exit polling.
Polls have varied, with some showing Trump with lower support among the minority groups.
New York Mayor Eric Adams, a black Democrat, clashed last year with Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez over Biden’s response to record-breaking illegal immigration when Adams attempted to warn the White House about mounting anger over the influx among minority communities.
“The mayor said, ‘Let’s have a family conversation, we are drowning [and] we need help,’” a source told The Post about a dramatic January 2023 discussion between Adams and Chavez Rodriguez while she was working as a senior White House adviser.
“You could tell she was not happy at all and she came back at him in a really tough way.”
“The political argument [from Adams] was basically: look, black and Latino Democrats — who, by the way, you’re losing as a party — are much more likely than white Democrats to oppose unrestricted immigration,” a different Democratic source told The Post.
“They are much more likely to lose work to people coming into the country and they are likely to be first or second-generation Americans who had to go through a vigorous policy to get here. Also, the social services are coming out of the same pie. Eric Adams made that argument as someone who grew up in those communities.”
A stunning national poll last month found that most Latinos support Trump’s pledge to mass-deport illegal immigrants.
The CBS News/YouGov survey found 53% of Latinos and 47% of black voters want to deport all undocumented immigrants.
