you want to set up the meeting? do you want to set up the meeting? no, no. are they friends of yours? i think there s blame on both sides. you look at both sides, i think there s blame on both sides, and i have no doubt about it and you don t have any doubt about it either. again, that s just some of what the president has said. kirstin, i want to float this idea that emily tisch susman floated to me a few minutes ago, perhaps the president s outreach to african-american voters specifically, maybe it s not about moving the needle, kirstin. maybe it s about giving the impression to white voters that the president actually cares. is that a theory that resonates with you? you know, craig, i m not sure what his goal is, but he s certainly not resonating with black voters. this has been a critical election we ve been following really really closely in essence in the survey we did with black women s roundtable,
80% of black women gave him a failing grade. i don t know what his purpose or his goal is. even speaking to amy s point about unemployment, even though unemployment levels are low, the racial wealth gap is increasing and widening, especially in cities like chicago and baltimore, predominantly black cities he denigrates on a daily basis. the black people are certainly not paying attention. your magazine put out a survey of black women voters specifically earlier this year. 83% gave the president a failing grade. what kind of candidate did you find in that survey that african-american women specifically are looking for this time around? someone willing to be held accountable, someone willing to come and meet black women where we are, talk about our issues around housing, around police brutality. we understand brutality is a reproductive justice issue in
outreach to african-americans, interestingly enough, one of his pollsters told me they founded focus groups, he did have particular appeal to single self-employed black males over the age of 40, that they liked his message of entrepreneurship and self reliance and so forth. unfortunately president trump s rhetoric gets in his own main. kirsten, you mentioned else and brrnsment you did not mention kamala harris, the senator from california. any idea based on the survey why she has not resonated as well with specifically african-american female voters? i think there s been a lot of pushback from working class black women, community organizers and activists who have pointed to things at her record they find problematic in california. black women lead on those issues. so there are people who support her. there are people who will always support her.
voters? it would be like scaling the swiss alps, i think, to try to improve upon his percentage of the black vote. he actually underperformed compared to mitt romney who wasn t known necessarily for having a great affinity for the black community. for president trump he does have a good story to sell, historic low unemployment, increased funding for historically black universities, bipartisan criminal justice reform bill. unfortunately he also has his big mouth that gets in his way. when he says things like he s been the best president for the african-american community in america s history, well, abraham lincoln sort of comes to mind. president trump is his own worst enemy when it comes to trying to sell it to the black community. let s remind our viewers and listeners on sirius about some of the things that mr. trump has said. look at my african-american over here, look at him. are you the greatest? are you going to include the congressional black caucus well, i would.
in 2017 where president trump went after congressman john lewis and his district which includes atlanta saying it s in horrible shape, falling apart, not to mention crime infested. we should also note for folks completely unaware, he s not just going to a major metropolitan area where the majority of the population is african-american. atlanta is the black mecca in this country. what kind of reception do you think the president is going to get today in the atl? well, we already know that georgia democrats have held a press conference in the state capitol denouncing president trump, his rhetoric and also his policies that they believe is setting the black community back. also notice, craig, this is an invite-only event. he s choosing his audience very carefully because he knows fully well because he would be facing a fairly hostile part of the country. going back to president trump s