Mark Robinson says he can attract Black voters to the GOP. Black voters disagree | Opinion

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson claims to be someone who can help the Republican Party make inroads with Black voters. Donald Trump has referred to him as ““Martin Luther King on steroids” and “Martin Luther King times two.”

Robinson views himself as a “threat” to Democrats due to his appeal with minority voters, he said in a podcast appearance last month, and believes the reason he is under increased scrutiny is because Democrats fear his success.

“In my case, what [Black voters] really see is they see a candidate that is able to reach out to those folks, bring common sense solutions to the problems they face, and then they see someone who looks like them,” Robinson said. “Ultimately what happens there is, we get into office and there’s success, and all of a sudden voting dynamics in North Carolina are changing for decades. And quite possibly, it starts across the nation.”

Robinson continued: “They’re very afraid. They don’t want that to happen. They cannot have a conservative Black man at the helm in North Carolina or in any state.”

But the idea that Robinson is a candidate who will help Republicans tap into a new, more diverse electorate is dubious. Despite the fact that Robinson would be the state’s first ever Black governor, Black voters are wary of Robinson, polls show.

Just 3% of likely Black voters say they’d vote for Robinson over Democrat Josh Stein in the upcoming general election, according to a Meredith Poll released in February. That’s a decline from last November’s Meredith Poll, when 15% of Black voters said they’d support Robinson. Another poll commissioned by the conservative Carolina Journal found that just 14% of Black voters say they’ll definitely or probably vote for Robinson in November.

And in a WRAL News poll conducted in March, just 13% of Black voters said they have a very or somewhat favorable view of Robinson, and 45% of Black voters said Robinson’s statements about women, LGBTQ+ people and the Jewish community make them less likely to vote for him.

That polling is consistent with what some folks are hearing on the ground. Marcus Bass, executive director of Advance Carolina, a nonprofit organization dedicated to building political and economic power in Black communities, said that many voters are alarmed and shocked by Robinson’s comments, especially about Black people and causes. Robinson has denounced the Civil Rights Movement and suggested that Black people are the ones who owe reparations for slavery. He’s also maligned people like Martin Luther King Jr. (he called him a communist), Beyoncé (he called her a “skank”) and Michelle Obama (he called her a man).

Many Black voters’ qualms with Robinson have to do with faith, Bass said. North Carolina is a Bible Belt state, and the church plays an important role in many Black communities. Perhaps recognizing this, Robinson has spent many a Sunday delivering sermons in churches across the state, though they often sound much more like stump speeches than actual gospel. Some of Robinson’s most virulent comments come from these sermons, including his likening of homosexuality to “filth” and his belief that we are “called to be led by men,” not women. Black clergy have been having conversations with their members about Robinson “misusing religion to project to Black voters,” who often vote with faith in mind, Bass said.

“The narrative that Mark Robinson is painting is really not a true moral or even biblical political statement,” Bass said. “It is him misusing race and gaslighting the religion.”

Douglas Wilson, a longtime Democratic strategist who is a Black man himself, says that Black voters are crucial to the outcome of the election, but it’s highly unlikely that they would support Robinson in droves.

“I think it will be a reminder to Black voters that although the Republican Party has placed an African American as standard bearer of the party, they are also saying they are agreeing with what the standard bearer is saying about the Civil Rights Movement and a beloved leader of that movement,” Wilson said.

Wilson conceded that some things about Robinson may resonate with Black voters, including his background of economic and familial hardships. But that may not be enough.

“Although he grew up in Greensboro, grew up poor, I don’t think that he has pushed policies or rhetoric that could help change the same path that a young Mark Robinson went on that another young Black boy should not have to in 2024,” Wilson said.