10/19/2024

Barack Obama Hurts Kamala Harris Among Swing State Voters: ‘Disrespectful’ – Newsweek

https://www.newsweek.com/obama-black-men-brothers-comments-hurt-harris-support-swing-states-1969281

ttps://www.newsweek.com/obama-black-men-brothers-comments-hurt-harris-support-swing-states-1969281

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Barack Obama Hurts Kamala Harris Among Swing State Voters: ‘Disrespectful’

Published Oct 15, 2024 at 11:22 AM EDTUpdated Oct 16, 2024 at 12:24 PM EDT

Barack Obama Rips Donald Trump’s Hurricane Response

By Hugh Cameron

Former President Barack Obama’s recent speech may have done more harm than good to Kamala Harris’ standing among swing state voters, as social media analysis revealed a negative reaction to his scolding of the Black, male electorate for its reluctance to support the vice president.

Heading into the final stretch of the 2024 election, the Democrats have called upon the former president to rally behind Harris on the campaign trail. However, comments made prior to Harris’ recent rally in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania elicited a largely negative response.

Analysis conducted October 10-14 by social media monitoring firm Impact Social found that the online reaction to Obama’s appearance was significantly negative, with many considering his remarks to be disrespectful and patronizing to Black voters.

Ahead of a Pittsburgh campaign event on Thursday, Obama spoke to a group of Black Harris supporters, and questioned the lack of support for the candidate, saying: “We have not yet seen the same kinds of energy and turnout in all quarters of our neighborhoods and communities as we saw when I was running.”

Appearing to suggest that sexism lay behind the apprehension to support the Democrat, Obama said that the issue “seems to be more pronounced with the brothers.”

His speech was intended to remedy apparent gaps in Harris’ support among the base, with which she is currently failing to garner the backing Biden enjoyed at a similar stage in 2020. It also spoke to disparities in levels of support for the candidate among Black women and men, as revealed by a recent NAACP poll.

However, Impact Social’s language analysis of 12,000 posts, compiled from its user database of 40,000 swing state voters, revealed that his comments aroused a significantly negative reaction among Americans.

In the four days following Obama’s appearance, Impact Social found that the overall sentiment toward the former president was largely neutral (50 percent) or negative (33 percent), with only 17 percent of comments from October 10-14 speaking of him positively.

Depending on the sentiment, Impact Social also sorted comments into respective positive or negative perspectives, before breaking down the specifics of each.

In online discussions that were positive, 33 percent expressed support for Obama, 9 percent defended the former president, with 13 percent and 19 percent praising his administration’s overall record and economic record, respectively. Some 13 percent were anti-Donald Trump, 6 percent anti-MAGA or GOP, 4 percent pro-Harris and 3 percent pro-Democrat.

In the negative camp, 38 percent of posts were considered by analysts as “backlash” against Obama and his comments. A further 27 percent and 12 percent took aim at the former president and his record, respectively, with 4 percent attacking the Obama economy. Some 14 percent were more broadly anti-Democrat, with 3 percent expressing support for Harris and 2 percent supporting Trump.

The organization also published some notable examples of online “backlash” against Obama’s Pittsburgh appearance, with one calling him “disrespectful” and saying: “There’s no wonder why so many black men are p*****.”

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It seems that Obama forgets – he is just a citizen in this country with one vote. His demeanor always ticked on the “dictatorship” side of the spectrum.

In his appearances he seems to get carried away as a control freak.

kommonsentsjane