Some Focus Group Data From South Carolina Black Democrats On Pete Buttigieg.

According to this article from the SC newspaper The State, Pete Buttigieg has his work cut out for him when it comes to black Democratic voters in SC.

Buttigieg focus groups found being gay ‘a barrier’ for some black South Carolina voters

Internal focus groups conducted by Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign this summer reveal a possible reason why he is struggling with African-American voters: some see his sexuality as a problem.

The 21-page report, conducted by the Benenson Strategy Group with black Democratic South Carolina voters in mid-July and obtained exclusively by McClatchy, found that “being gay was a barrier for these voters, particularly for the men who seemed deeply uncomfortable even discussing it. … [T]heir preference is for his sexuality to not be front and center.”

Note:  I’m not black or from or live in SC, so this was some news to me.

After three 90-minute sessions with a total of 24 uncommitted black voters in Columbia, South Carolina aged 25 to 65, just one — a woman over 40 — said they were considering voting for Buttigieg. Conversely, all but one said they were considering voting for Joe Biden, described in the report as “the clear and dominant front runner” in the state that holds the fourth Democratic nominating contest.

“It’s hard to underestimate the power of the Obama association with these voters,” the report states.

Confirms what many have been saying this whole time.  Biden is directly benefitting from being Obama’s VP.  Check.

Some of what was said in the focus group was not encouraging for Buttigieg.

“They find it hard to believe that if Barack Obama struggled with Congress, that a young, new face would be able to make progress, especially on issues as tough as racism and inequality,” the report reads.

Now, I agree with the above, and it is why I am not impressed with Buttigieg’s or any Democrats message of “I can reach across the aisle.”   I think it is a BS message.

But I digress.

Anyway, the gist of the focus groups results was that black voters didn’t want Buttigieg to bring up the fact that he is gay.  And they definitely don’t want to know that he is married to a man.  I believe they felt that acknowledging that he is gay and married was “shoving it down their throats.”

I was a little floored by that last comment to be honest.  

And I thought that Buttigieg was struggling with black voters because of his record as Mayor of South Bend, IN.  Shows you what I know.  But Buttigieg will need to work very hard to be competitive in SC and maybe in several other Southern states where black Democratic voters make up a sizable chunck of the electorate.

Note:  I deleted a section in which I over generalized and made a stereotype.  I apologize for that and will try not to do so again in the future.