The NAACP plans to spend $20 million to encourage black Americans, a key voter group in the presidential race, to vote in 12 states this fall.
The investment, details of which were first shared with NBC News, includes $6 million in funding for local NAACP chapters and affiliates, $1 million for polling and research, and $1.4 million for text-message outreach.
In seven key states – Arizona, North Carolina, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Georgia – the NAACP will spend $3 million on radio ads in black communities and $2 million on mail-in advertising aimed at getting voters to the polls.
The NAACP’s campaign is not aimed at favoring specific candidates, but rather is intended to mobilize and inform black voters broadly in the run-up to the 2024 elections.
Messaging will encourage Black Americans to verify their voter registration, find their polling place, encourage them to vote early, and inform them of how to contact the NAACP if they experience intimidation or suppression at the polls. The group plans to engage more than 14.5 million Black voters.
“While the threats to our democracy are present and dangerous, our commitment to making our voices heard remains unwavering,” Derrick Johnson, NAACP president and CEO, said in a statement. “Our most important Black job this November — for all of us — is to go to the polls and make our voices heard. The only way to combat these radical extremists is with your vote.”
Black voters are expected to play a crucial role in the race for the White House between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. While black voters traditionally overwhelmingly support Democrats, the margin of victory and turnout levels among the group could make a big difference.
A new poll of likely black voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin from the Howard University Initiative on Public Opinion found that 82% said they would vote for Harris, while 12% backed Trump.
By comparison, exit polls in those same states showed President Joe Biden winning 89% of black voters, compared to 9% for Trump.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
