Editing African Americans (section)

===Politics===

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="float:right; font-size:90%; margin:0 0 1em 1em;"

|-
!Year
!Candidate of<br />the plurality
!Political <br /> party
!% of<br />Black<br />vote
!Result
|-
|1980 || [[Jimmy Carter]] || [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] ||83%
| {{no|Lost}}
|-
|1984 || [[Walter Mondale]] || Democratic || 91%
| {{no|Lost}}
|-
|1988 || [[Michael Dukakis]] || Democratic || 89%
| {{no|Lost}}
|-
|1992 || [[Bill Clinton]] || Democratic || 83%
| {{won}}
|-
|1996 || [[Bill Clinton]] || Democratic ||84%
| {{won}}
|-
|2000 || [[Al Gore]] || Democratic || 90%
|{{no|Lost}}
|-
|2004 || [[John Kerry]] || Democratic || 88%
|{{no|Lost}}
|-
|2008 || [[Barack Obama]] || Democratic || 95%
| {{won}}
|-
|2012 || [[Barack Obama]] || Democratic || 93%
| {{won}}
|-
|2016 || [[Hillary Clinton]] || Democratic || 88%
| {{no|Lost}}
|-
|2020 || [[Joe Biden]] || Democratic || 87%
| {{won}}
|-
|2024 || [[Kamala Harris]] || Democratic || 85%
| {{no|Lost}}
|}
Since the mid 20th century, a large majority of African Americans support the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]. In the [[2020 United States presidential election|2024 Presidential election]], 86% of African American voters supported Democrat [[Kamala Harris]], while 13% supported Republican [[Donald Trump]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Election 2024: Exit polls |url=https://www.cnn.com/election/2024/exit-polls/national-results/general/president/0 |website=[[CNN]] |access-date=27 February 2025}}</ref> Although there is an African American lobby in foreign policy, it has not had the impact that African American organizations have had in domestic policy.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=American Society and the African American Foreign Policy Lobby: Constraints and Opportunities|first=David A.|last=Dickson|journal=Journal of Black Studies|year=1996|pages=139–151|volume=27|doi=10.1177/002193479602700201|issue=2|s2cid=143314945}}</ref>

Many African Americans were excluded from electoral politics in the decades following the end of Reconstruction. For those that could participate, until the [[New Deal]], African Americans were supporters of the Republican Party because it was Republican President Abraham Lincoln who helped in granting freedom to American slaves; at the time, the Republicans and Democrats represented the [[Sectionalism|sectional]] interests of the [[Northern United States|North]] and [[Southern United States|South]], respectively, rather than any specific ideology, and both [[Conservatism in the United States|conservative]] and [[Modern liberalism in the United States|liberal]] were represented equally in both parties.

The African American trend of voting for Democrats can be traced back to the 1930s during the [[Great Depression]], when [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s [[New Deal]] program provided economic relief to African Americans. Roosevelt's [[New Deal coalition]] turned the Democratic Party into an organization of the working class and their liberal allies, regardless of region. The African American vote became even more solidly Democratic when Democratic presidents [[John F. Kennedy]] and [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] pushed for civil rights legislation during the 1960s. In 1960, nearly a third of African Americans voted for Republican [[Richard Nixon]].<ref>{{cite book|first1=John Clifford|last1=Green|first2=Daniel J.|last2=Coffey|title=The State of the Parties: The Changing Role of Contemporary American Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nIPRBXgzSYEC&pg=PA29|year=2007|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0-7425-5322-4|page=29|access-date=June 16, 2015|archive-date=January 7, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240107112637/https://books.google.com/books?id=nIPRBXgzSYEC&pg=PA29#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Conservatism]] has been steadily growing among African Americans, particularly since the 2020 Presidential election. In the 2024 election, Trump secured a larger share of the African American vote compared to his 2020 performance. Notably, Black men and younger Black voters have increasingly aligned with the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]], adopting more conservative stances, such as supporting stricter crime policies, placing less emphasis on [[Transgender rights movement|transgender rights]], and advocating for an end to [[illegal immigration]], which marks a shift from the views of previous generations.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Suggs |first1=Bria |title=Young Black voters are becoming more conservative than their parents. Here's why |url=https://www.npr.org/2024/08/14/g-s1-16261/young-black-voters-generation-democrats-conservative-trump-harris-gen-z-millennials |website=[[NPR]] |access-date=27 February 2025 |date=14 August 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newsweek.com/trump-support-white-black-voters-immigration-2020299|title=Donald Trump's approval rating higher with Black people than white people|date=January 24, 2025|website=Newsweek|accessdate=March 3, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/2024/10/10/nx-s1-5133172/polls-suggest-republicans-are-making-gains-among-black-voters-especially-black-men |title=Polls suggest Republicans are making gains among Black voters — especially Black men |work=NPR |last1=Martin |first1=Michel |last2=Fadel |first2=Leila |date=October 10, 2024 |access-date=March 20, 2025}}</ref>

====Black national anthem====

[[File:The Obamas sing with Smokey Robinson, Joan Baez and others, 2014.jpg|thumb|right| "[[Lift Every Voice and Sing]]" being sung by the [[family of Barack Obama]], [[Smokey Robinson]] and others in the [[White House]] in 2014]]
"[[Lift Every Voice and Sing]]" is often referred to as the Black national anthem in the United States.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Jackson|first1=Jabar|last2=Martin|first2=Jill|date=July 3, 2020|title=NFL plans to play Black national anthem before Week 1 games|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/02/sport/nfl-black-national-anthem-week-1-spt-intl/index.html|access-date=July 4, 2020|website=CNN|archive-date=May 27, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220527135554/https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/02/sport/nfl-black-national-anthem-week-1-spt-intl/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1919, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) had dubbed it the "Negro national anthem" for its power in voicing a cry for liberation and affirmation for African-American people.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Till Victory Is Won: The Staying Power Of 'Lift Every Voice And Sing'|language=en|work=NPR.org|url=https://www.npr.org/2018/08/16/638324920/american-anthem-lift-every-voice-and-sing-black-national-anthem|access-date=February 22, 2022|archive-date=May 31, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220531060339/https://www.npr.org/2018/08/16/638324920/american-anthem-lift-every-voice-and-sing-black-national-anthem|url-status=live}}</ref>