Jake Tapper Presses Pete Buttigieg on Black Vote: A South Carolina Poll Has You at Zero Percent

CNN’s Jake Tapper spoke with Pete Buttigieg this afternoon and pressed him on his struggles winning over black voters.

Tapper brought up a new Quinnipiac poll this week that put his support with black voters in the state at zero percent.

“It’s just one poll and it’s just a snapshot but it’s not good. You’ve said voters are still getting to know you. The South Carolina primary is just 92 days away. Is that enough time?” Tapper asked.

“It is,” Buttigieg responded. “I recognize and welcome the work we have ahead. That same poll you mentioned showed that the majority of black voters in South Carolina say they don’t have an opinion of me right now. That means we’ve work to do, but we’re doing the work, we’re making investments both on the air and on the ground.”

Tapper also brought up how South Bend Common Council Vice President Dr. Oliver Davis endorsed Joe Biden and said Buttigieg has had issues for a while in attempting to gain support from black voters.

“Councilman Davis, I respect him a lot,” Buttigieg said. “We’ve definitely disagreed on politics a great deal, not to take you into the whole story of South Bend politics, but I respect him coming from a different place politically. Obviously no one person speaks for black voters in South Bend, and I’m proud of some of the black supporters who know me best from Indiana and from South Bend who have not only supported our campaign but traveled with us and helped tell the story of our community.”

Tapper also confronted him on the “self-inflicted wounds” from his campaign, including the use of a stock photo of a Kenyan woman illustrating his “Douglass Plan” for black Americans. You can watch above, via CNN.

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