Is the "Kanye West will definitely siphon off lots of black votes" talking point racist?

[W]

No. If you vote for Biden all you do is split the Kanye vote and guarantee Trump's reelection. We must think strategically here with our votes.

[RaphaelDLG]

Eh, do we think the "Kamala Harris/Susan Rice/Keisha Lance Bottoms" will deliver black turnout are also racist takes?  If not, then this probably shouldn't be a "racist" take.

It is, however, very lazy and likely wrong.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Eh, do we think the "Kamala Harris/Susan Rice/Keisha Lance Bottoms" will deliver black turnout are also racist takes?  If not, then this probably shouldn't be a "racist" take.

It is, however, very lazy and likely wrong.

Both are stupid and wrong. Especially Harris who was rejected by black voters. (She's honestly close to the least bad one remaining on the shortlist at this point though, bleh.)

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

I mean, it's more extremely bad and lazy analysis than it is racist. Although there are iterations of it which are pretty racist.

Of course it's also true that:
1. if Kanye West actually managed to get on ballot, he would receive at least some votes from every race and ethnicity
2. very likely the vast majority of his votes would be from non-Hispanic Whites.

[Saint Milei]

Absolutely not. Identity voting is very real. It's a big reason why Trump appeals to the WWC as well (not that Trump is WWC himself, but he behaves like one, which is what is important). But it is also a main reason why more "cerebral" candidates like Buttigieg or Warren overwhelmingly appeals to the highly educated. People do like to vote for people that they can identify with. With Kanye it is not just his skin colour, but certainly attachment to hip-hop culture and his larger than life celebrity personality.

BTW, I am NOT saying that black people will vote for Kanye in droves, but it is possible that he siphons a non-insignificant part of the black vote away from Biden.

He's said slavery was a choice, praised Trump, and adopted confederate symbols--do you honestly think black voters who are against Trump are going to look at this and think Kanye is the better alternative?

do you know who kanye west is?

Yes and his talking points are not liked by most black voters when it comes to him as a political candidate. Do you know who he is outside of music?

Doesn't matter. Kanye gets the benefit of the doubt because of who he is. It's why he hasn't been cancelled.

[emailking]

I guess it's not racist but it's also not true. I mean he doesn't even have a campaign website. He's not taking it seriously, and no one taking the election seriously will vote for him. To the extent some people write in his name for the lulz, it will probably come from both parties and all races.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

No. If you vote for Biden all you do is split the Kanye vote and guarantee Trump's reelection. We must think strategically here with our votes.

That only applies in swing states, if you are in a safe Biden or Trump state, that theory doesnt applies.

Alot of Californians like Kayne but he has no chance when he should of done this in April

[Storebought]

His platform (or as West puts it, a "design") combines Jill Stein 2016 plus Alan Keyes of 2004, with an absolute love of Asian sweatshop labor.

Who does such a platform appeal to who aren't already Kanye West fans consumers?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Absolutely not. Identity voting is very real. It's a big reason why Trump appeals to the WWC as well (not that Trump is WWC himself, but he behaves like one, which is what is important). But it is also a main reason why more "cerebral" candidates like Buttigieg or Warren overwhelmingly appeals to the highly educated. People do like to vote for people that they can identify with. With Kanye it is not just his skin colour, but certainly attachment to hip-hop culture and his larger than life celebrity personality.

BTW, I am NOT saying that black people will vote for Kanye in droves, but it is possible that he siphons a non-insignificant part of the black vote away from Biden.

Owned.
https://twitter.com/PpollingNumbers/status/1282768444484734978?s=19

[SWE]

The idea that there's some significant electoral block that would otherwise vote Biden if not for Kanye running seems hard for me to believe. I imagine Kanye being on the ballot would hurt Jorgenson and Hawkins the most.

[The Right Honourable Martin Brian Mulroney PC CC GOQ]

I voted no, but it's somewhere in between. Certainly some people see a black guy on the ballot and think "well obviously they'll vote for their own", which assumes that black people are so foolish that they will simply vote for the blackest option. This position is at least based in racist thinking, and also ridiculous.

But I also think there is genuinely a large portion of people who think Kanye West is genuinely popular in black communities, which is ignorant and out-of-touch but I wouldn't think it's racist.

[Hammy]

Absolutely not. Identity voting is very real. It's a big reason why Trump appeals to the WWC as well (not that Trump is WWC himself, but he behaves like one, which is what is important). But it is also a main reason why more "cerebral" candidates like Buttigieg or Warren overwhelmingly appeals to the highly educated. People do like to vote for people that they can identify with. With Kanye it is not just his skin colour, but certainly attachment to hip-hop culture and his larger than life celebrity personality.

BTW, I am NOT saying that black people will vote for Kanye in droves, but it is possible that he siphons a non-insignificant part of the black vote away from Biden.

Owned.
https://twitter.com/PpollingNumbers/status/1282768444484734978?s=19

How does Libertarian pick up a point when more candidates are factored in?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Absolutely not. Identity voting is very real. It's a big reason why Trump appeals to the WWC as well (not that Trump is WWC himself, but he behaves like one, which is what is important). But it is also a main reason why more "cerebral" candidates like Buttigieg or Warren overwhelmingly appeals to the highly educated. People do like to vote for people that they can identify with. With Kanye it is not just his skin colour, but certainly attachment to hip-hop culture and his larger than life celebrity personality.

BTW, I am NOT saying that black people will vote for Kanye in droves, but it is possible that he siphons a non-insignificant part of the black vote away from Biden.

Owned.
https://twitter.com/PpollingNumbers/status/1282768444484734978?s=19

How does Libertarian pick up a point when more candidates are factored in?

Either some sort of percentage rounding fluke or people thinking "I don't want to vote for any of these candidates....oh sh!t Kanye West really is the only alternative....I guess Jorgensen."

[The Right Honourable Martin Brian Mulroney PC CC GOQ]

Absolutely not. Identity voting is very real. It's a big reason why Trump appeals to the WWC as well (not that Trump is WWC himself, but he behaves like one, which is what is important). But it is also a main reason why more "cerebral" candidates like Buttigieg or Warren overwhelmingly appeals to the highly educated. People do like to vote for people that they can identify with. With Kanye it is not just his skin colour, but certainly attachment to hip-hop culture and his larger than life celebrity personality.

BTW, I am NOT saying that black people will vote for Kanye in droves, but it is possible that he siphons a non-insignificant part of the black vote away from Biden.

Owned.
https://twitter.com/PpollingNumbers/status/1282768444484734978?s=19

How does Libertarian pick up a point when more candidates are factored in?

I've worked in opinion research as a summer job in college (painfully dull work, but it can be interesting for a political junkie). Sometimes people would just give random and inconsistent answers, especially on surveys that went on a bit too long. You're supposed to try to keep the respondent engaged to avoid this kind of thing, but you have to note their responses verbatim without clarifying the question beyond what is written on the script. Sometimes there would be respondents whose English wasn't very strong, so they didn't really understand what was being asked and their responses wouldn't make much sense. Little things like that can and do happen, and sometimes affect the final result, especially with minor candidates. It could have literally been one person who gave this kind of inconsistent response, shifting Jorgenson's vote from 1.4% to 1.6%, which got rounded from 1 to 2. So I wouldn't read too much into it.

[Non Swing Voter]

No but it is ridiculous. 

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Yes, yes it was.

[Motorcity]

No

When people say "West will siphon black votes" they are really say dumb young people, of all races, voting for him as a meme canidate. This didn't happen in 2020 thankfully because people knew the stakes. But lets not forget how many people wrote in "Harambe" in 2016....

[Interlocutor is just not there yet]

Lean Yes.

But it was absolutely a ridiculously outrageous take, as much as the "Kanye West will definitely siphon off lots of youth votes from Biden in swing states and cost him the election" take.

Then again, I have a feeling most folks' most recent memory here of Kanye is being the guy that publicly called Dubya racist after Hurricane Katrina when not even most millennials have a favorable view of Kanye (Let alone Zoomers)

[Calthrina950]

No

When people say "West will siphon black votes" they are really say dumb young people, of all races, voting for him as a meme canidate. This didn't happen in 2020 thankfully because people knew the stakes. But lets not forget how many people wrote in "Harambe" in 2016....

I actually have a coworker at my job who did vote for Kanye West. He is about the same age as me, but he's not "dumb" by any means. I asked him why he did so, and he said that he leans to the right (along with most of his family) and normally votes Republican, but couldn't vote for Trump due to his Muslim asylum policy, since he has a Muslim girlfriend. He wasn't going to vote for Biden, so he decided to throw his vote away to West, and viewed him as the joke candidate he was.

[Meatball Ron]

Eh, do we think the "Kamala Harris/Susan Rice/Keisha Lance Bottoms" will deliver black turnout are also racist takes?  If not, then this probably shouldn't be a "racist" take.

It is, however, very lazy and likely wrong.

Obviously an old post, but since someone else bumped this thread and the comment seems to have gone unaddressed - what a ridiculous take.

See, here's the difference - Harris / Rice / KLB are qualified to be Vice President; regardless of your politics, Kanye is woefully unqualified (and mentally unstable).

So saying, putting a qualified black candidate on the ticket will boost black turnout is an eminently reasonable comment (and also backed by historical precedent - look at black turnout in '08 and '12 compared to '04).

But saying, a bunch of black people are going to vote for this low IQ / unqualified / unstable joke candidate implies that those voters are also unintelligent / unsophisticated / don't care about the direction of the country. Which is racist. And of course turned out to be false!

I wish we could chill out with these totally lazy comparisons that don't account for any sort of nuance.