U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, speaking at a campaign stop in Charlotte on Friday, said Donald Trump is likely to win 20% of the non-white vote nationally in November’s election, up from about 16% in 2020. That could play a role in determining who wins, the South Carolina senator said.
Speaking to a group of about a dozen Republicans at an event sponsored by the Trump campaign, Scott said Black support for the former president is running three to five percentage points higher than four years ago, even after Vice President Kamala Harris replaced Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee. Scott said polls also show 40% of Black males are still open to voting for Trump.
During his talk, Scott emphasized his support for financial literacy programs, reduced regulations, increased access to capital for minority-owned small businesses and school choice.
“Financial literacy is one of the most powerful ways to bridge the gap between those who have and those who have not,” Scott said. “Those empowered with financial literacy have a better chance of changing their lives, and their family’s lives.”
Scott pointed to his own life, noting how he spent much of his youth living with his mother and brother in his grandparents’ two-bedroom home in Charleston, South Carolina. He later earned a bachelor’s degree at Charleston Southern University, then worked as a financial adviser and insurance agent before starting his own Allstate agency.
Scott urged more churches to be involved in financial literacy programs and cited his mother Frances’ work leading the Raising up the Low Country nonprofit, which supports single mothers in the Charleston area. One of the group’s three tenets is education, including helping single mothers learn about personal finance.
Responding to a question, Scott said average households have about $1,075 less per month in spending power now, versus January 2021, because of the impact of inflation. He blamed higher spending sparked by Biden Administration efforts to rebuild the economy following the pandemic.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and others have disputed Scott’s claims, contending wages have risen faster than expenses since 2019, before the pandemic.
He also said Black business owners are having particular problems in the current economic environment because of their historically limited access to funding. He cited a survey that about 60% of Black business owners have no optimism about finding new capital to fund their businesses.
Scott became the first Black person elected to the U.S. House from South Carolina in 2010, then was re-elected in 2012. He was appointed to the Senate in 2013 and has since won three statewide elections, including 2022. He was among the finalists when Trump picked his vice presidential nominee earlier this year, according to media reports.
