(CBS DETROIT) — With less than two weeks until Election Day, candidates are working overtime to win over undecided voters.
The Harris campaign, in partnership with the organization Win With Black Men, held a small event at Final Kut Barbershop in Detroit on Friday to sway undecided black male voters.
According to the latest GenForward Poll from the University of Chicago, 26% of young black men say they would vote for former President Donald Trump if the election were held tomorrow.
“Black men feel like they have been abandoned. Elections, after elections, after elections, after elections,” Stephen Kennedy told CBS News Detroit.
Kennedy said the conversation in the barbershop, which he described as a kind of “Town Square” for black men, often centers on Harris’ time as California attorney general and claims that she prosecuted black men at a significantly higher rate than other demographic groups. It’s a topic that Harris has called it “exaggerated.”
Kennedy also said many black men feel like Democratic Party policies no longer appeal to them, especially when candidates push criminal justice reform as a way they reach black men.
“It’s like they think we can only be criminals,” Kennedy said. ‘I’m not a criminal. My friend is not a criminal. These guys here are not criminals. Talk to something we can bond over.”
For Kennedy and many men at Friday’s event, economic issues affecting middle-class black Americans are a topic worth discussing. He believes that Trump is doing this better than his opponent.
“He may not always be honest, but he speaks directly to them,” Kennedy said. “The Democrats and Harris need to start talking to us directly.”
In the end, Kennedy still voted for Harris, but he said this was more of a protest vote for Trump and the things he stands for. However, he’s not sure how his brothers in barbershops across America will influence this close election.
“It will be close,” Kennedy said. ‘Is it too late? No. But we need to get more boots on the ground.”
