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 on Oct. 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.
Barack Obama campaigns for Kamala Harris in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on October 10, 2024. Comments made by Obama prior to the rally have drawn significant scrutiny.
Ryan Collerd/AFP via Getty Images
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 Oct. 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*****.”
“Obama calling out black men will sink Kamala’s ship,” another read.
However, there were many posts defending Obama’s comments, one of which read: Whenever Obama tells uncomfortable truths it never ceases to amaze me how folks are more upset about him pointing & calling out the truths than the problems themselves.”
Others praised Obama for using his “unique position” as a Black man – as well as a former president – to address Harris’ apparent lack of support among this group.
According to Impact Social, based on responses from the independent voters included in its analysis, many “saw the former president as being racist and disrespectful,” and that they considered it reminiscent of Biden’s infamous “you ain’t black” comment to Black voters during the 2020 campaign.
Do you have a story we should be covering? Do you have any questions about this article? Contact LiveNews@newsweek.com.
