President Donald Trump claimed that Black and “brown” voters are “flocking” toward the Republican Party, but recent polling shows his standing with both groups has deteriorated sharply in recent months.
Trump made the claim on Truth Social, arguing that Black and “brown” voters are rejecting communism or socialism and are turning to the GOP. He also invoked Abraham Lincoln‘s Republican Party affiliation.
“Black and Brown Voters don’t want Communism or Socialism — Not surprisingly, they are flocking to the Republican Party! They remember that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican!” he wrote.
Polling shows the opposite trend
Multiple surveys contradict Trump’s characterization.
A The Economist/YouGov poll conducted among 1,589 U.S. adult citizens found that just 13 percent of Black respondents approve of Trump’s job performance, while 79 percent disapprove. His net approval among Black voters was therefore -66, the lowest of his second term.
That marked a 25-point decline from May, when 22 percent approved and 69 percent disapproved, for a net rating of -47. Net approval among Black respondents was -54 in June and -64 in July.
Hispanic voters showed a similar decline. In the August poll, 27 percent approved of Trump’s performance and 66 percent disapproved, giving him a net rating of -39. Trump’s overall net approval was -10, meaning his rating among Black respondents was roughly six times worse than his national figure.
A separate The Economist/YouGov survey published by AURN News found that 15 percent of Black Americans approved of Trump’s performance, compared with 78 percent who disapproved. Overall, 36 percent of respondents approved.
The survey also found that 12 percent of Black respondents approved of Trump’s handling of race relations, compared with 32 percent of Americans overall. Just 11 percent of Black respondents said they considered Trump trustworthy.
White House response
Asked by Newsweek about the polling, White House spokesperson Allison Schuster defended Trump’s record, citing first-term achievements such as record-low Black unemployment, opportunity zones and long-term funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
She said the administration is building on that record through public safety initiatives, immigration enforcement, tax cuts and the Trump Accounts savings program for children.
The 2024 baseline and what changed
Trump did make modest gains among Black and Hispanic voters in 2024.
Cornell University data showed former Vice President Kamala Harris won 51 percent of Hispanic voters, compared with 46 percent for Trump. That represented a sharp narrowing from 2020, when Joe Biden won 65 percent of Hispanic voters to Trump’s 32 percent.
Pew Research data showed Trump’s support among Black voters nearly doubled, rising from 8 percent in 2020 to 15 percent in 2024. Democrats, however, still won 83 percent of Black voters.
Those gains have weakened since Trump returned to office as approval ratings declined amid the U.S.-Iran conflict and concerns about affordability.
Scott Tranter, data science director at DDHQ, said Black voters are among Trump’s newest coalition additions and could be among the first to leave as his overall numbers fall.
Decision Desk HQ’s aggregate tracker put Trump’s net approval among Black Americans at roughly -47 in early August. Disapproval rose from about 63 percent in mid-June to roughly 72 percent by early August, a nearly 20-point increase since Trump returned to office in January 2025.
Economic strain behind the numbers
The poll conducted by The Economist and YouGov found that only 16 percent of Black respondents rated the U.S. economy as “excellent” or “good,” while 81 percent called it fair or poor.
Among Hispanic respondents, 17 percent viewed the economy positively, compared with 78 percent who did not. Nationally, 22 percent of Americans rated the economy favorably.
An Economic Policy Institute analysis of Federal Reserve Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking data found that Black households were in their weakest financial position in a decade.
EPI researchers said structural inequities in the U.S. labor market have historically left communities of color more vulnerable during economic downturns. That pattern continued in the 2025 survey period, with financial well-being among Black adults declining even as most other groups remained relatively stable.
The share of Black adults who said they were “doing OK” or “living comfortably” fell nearly five percentage points to 60 percent in 2025, the lowest level since 2015. The figure had been 68 percent the previous year.
Layoffs among Black workers increased from 10 percent in 2024 to 12.7 percent in 2025. Hispanic layoffs rose from 8.2 percent to 9.6 percent, while layoffs among white workers increased from 4.7 percent to 5.4 percent.
Concern about finding or keeping a job also rose sharply among Black adults, from 46.4 percent to 55.1 percent. Among Hispanic adults, it increased from 46.9 percent to 54.9 percent, while the figure for white adults rose from 30.3 percent to 32.5 percent.
EPI also found that the share of Black adults reporting difficulty making ends meet rose by about eight percentage points between 2024 and 2025, even as that concern eased slightly among white, non-Hispanic adults.
What it means for the GOP heading into the midterms
The decline does not erase Trump’s 2024 gains, but it suggests those gains might be fragile as economic concerns grow ahead of the November midterm elections and potentially the 2028 presidential race.
