The last time a Democratic incumbent President faced a Republican challenger with the Black unemployment rate this high was 1980. In that year the Democrat, President Carter lost. In November of that year the unemployment rate was 14.5% and contributed to Ronald Reagan quietly receiving 14% of the Black vote. President Obama can take some comfort in the fact that even though Black unemployment remained elevated in the next election cycle – 14.3% in November of 1984 – the incumbent, President Reagan won re-election. However, the point remains that while the electorate trusts Democrats with wealth re-distribution, American voters have tended to expect economic growth from the GOP (which is why the ‘Clinton boom’ is such a protruding moment in recent history)
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