When a handful of liberal advocacy organizations convened a series of focus grou

ps with young black voters last month, the assessments of Donald J. Trump were p
redictably unsparing.
But when the participants were asked about Hillary Clinton, their appraisals wer
e just as blunt and nearly as biting.
What am I supposed to do if I dont like him and I dont trust her? a millennial black
woman in Ohio asked. Choose between being stabbed and being shot? No way!
She was part of the whole problem that started sending blacks to jail, a young bla
ck man, also from Ohio, observed about Mrs. Clinton.
Hes a racist, and she is a liar, so really whats the difference in choosing both or
choosing neither? another young black woman from Ohio said.
DOCUMENT
Results of Obama Voter Focus Groups on Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clintons difficulties with young African-Americans were laid bare in four
damning focus groups conducted for a handful of progressive organizations. The
results were outlined in a presentation by a Democratic pollster, and shared wit
h The Times by another party strategist who wanted to draw attention to Mrs. Cli
ntons difficulties in hopes that the campaign would move more aggressively to add
ress the matter.
OPEN DOCUMENT
Young African-Americans, like all voters their age, are typically far harder to
drive to the polls than middle-aged and older Americans. Yet with just over two
months until Election Day, many Democrats are expressing alarm at the lack of en
thusiasm, and in some cases outright resistance, some black millennials feel tow
ard Mrs. Clinton.
Their skepticism is rooted in a deep discomfort with the political establishment
that they believe the 68-year-old former first lady and secretary of state repr
esents. They share a lingering mistrust of Mrs. Clinton and her husband over cri
minal justice issues. They are demanding more from politicians as part of a new,
confrontational wave of black activism that has arisen in response to police ki
llings of unarmed African-Americans.
Were in the midst of a movement with a real sense of urgency, explained Brittany Pa
cknett, 31, a St. Louis-based leader in the push for police accountability. Mrs.
Clinton is not yet connecting, she said, because the conversation that younger b
lack voters are having is no longer one about settling on a candidate who is bet
ter than the alternative.
Continue reading the main story
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The question of just how many young African-Americans will show up to vote carri
es profound implications for this election. Mrs. Clinton is sure to dominate Mr.
Trump among black voters, but her overwhelming margin could ultimately matter l
ess than the total number of blacks who show up to vote.
To replicate President Obamas success in crucial states such as Florida, Ohio and
Pennsylvania, she cannot afford to let the percentage of the electorate that is
black slip far below what it was in 2012. And while a modest drop-off of black
votes may not imperil Mrs. Clintons prospects, given Mr. Trumps unpopularity among
upscale white voters, it could undermine Democrats effort to capture control of
the Senate and win other down-ballot elections.
Mrs. Clintons difficulties with young African-Americans were laid bare in four fo
cus groups conducted in Cleveland and Jacksonville, Fla., for a handful of progr
essive organizations spending millions on the election: the service employees un
ion, a joint super PAC between organized labor and the billionaire environmentalis
t Tom Steyer, and a progressive group called Project New America. The results we
re outlined in a 25-page presentation by Cornell Belcher, a Democratic pollster,
and shared with The New York Times by another party strategist who wanted to dr
aw attention to Mrs. Clintons difficulties in hopes that the campaign would move
more aggressively to address the matter.
Photo
Chris Prudhome, the president of Vote America Now, a non-partisan group working
to register millennial and minority voters, in Washington on Friday. Credit Just
in T. Gellerson for The New York Times
Word of the report has spread in the constellation of liberal operatives and adv
ocacy groups in recent weeks, concerning officials who saw diminished black turn
out hurt Democratic candidates in the last two midterm elections.
Adding to the worries is a separate poll of African-Americans that Mr. Belcher c
onducted earlier in the summer indicating that Mrs. Clinton is lagging well behi
nd Mr. Obamas performance among young blacks in a handful of crucial states.
In Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia, 70 percent of African-Americans und
er 35 said they were backing Mrs. Clinton, 8 percent indicated support for Mr. T
rump and 18 percent said they were backing another candidate or did not know who
m they would support. In 2012, Mr. Obama won 92 percent of black voters under 45
nationally, according to exit polling.

Over 25 percent of African-Americans are between 18 and 34, and 44 percent are o
lder than 35, according to 2013 census data.
There is no Democratic majority without these voters, Mr. Belcher said. The danger
is that if you dont get these voters out, youve got the 2004 John Kerry electorate
again.
In Ohio, for example, blacks were 10 percent of the electorate in the 2004 presi
dential race. But when Mr. Obama ran for re-election in 2012, that number jumped
to 15 percent.
Interactive Feature: Who Will Be President?
What frustrates many blacks under 40 is Mrs. Clintons overriding focus on Mr. Tru
mp.
We already know what the deal is with Trump, said Nathan Baskerville, a 35-year-ol
d North Carolina state representative. Tell us what your plan is to make our life
better.
Such talk can be frustrating to Mrs. Clintons aides, who point out that her first
speech of the campaign was on criminal justice and that she has laid out a seri
es of proposals on the topic.
It is on us to make sure that thats known, said Addisu Demissie, Mrs. Clintons voter
outreach and mobilization director, adding of young black activists, We share th
eir goals, we share their values and we want to make sure thats reflected through
our campaign.
The focus groups and interviews with young black activists suggest many of them
are not aware of Mrs. Clintons plans regarding police conduct, mass incarceration
and structural racism broadly.
Christopher Prudhome, 31, recounted a recurring conversation he has with other A
frican-Americans as he travels around the country as the head of a nonpartisan g
roup dedicated to registering young voters: They do not like either candidate.
Young people feel discouraged and apprehensive about the political process as is,
and then they look at the two options in front of us, said Mr. Prudhome, adding
of Mrs. Clinton: Nobody has seen an agenda for African-American millennials. I do
nt think they believe she cares about them.
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roup of New York Times journalists.
Part of Mrs. Clintons problem, said Symone Sanders, a former top aide to Senator
Bernie Sanderss campaign, is that the candidate is overly cautious and is conduct
ing an outdated style of black outreach.
Ms. Sanders has begun taking matters into her own hands. She said she was workin
g with other young activists to recruit black celebrities for a millennial mobil
ization tour through Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia.
Black churches and an H.B.C.U. tour is just not going to cut it in 2016, said Ms.
Sanders, referring to historically black colleges and universities. The Clinton c
ampaign has to be willing to get out of whats comfortable and get on the streets.

Mr. Demissie said the Clinton campaigns efforts were more expansive, pointing to
voter registration efforts already underway in barbershops and salons as well as
sneaker and video game stores.
Mrs. Clinton has met with mothers of those who lost children at the hands of the
police and has used the signature refrain that black lives matter in public remar
ks. But she and her husband also come from an earlier political tradition rooted
in the Deep South, where black voters are primarily reached through the church
and the threat of white conservative backlash is never far from mind.
Todays young African-American voters are less likely to be found in black churche
s and more likely to be found in schools, loosely organized activist groups and
online, said Ms. Packnett, the St. Louis activist.
Slide Show
SLIDE SHOW
|
12 Photos
On the Trail: Week of Aug. 28
On the Trail: Week of Aug. 28CreditRuth Fremson/The New York Times
And the leaders are more diverse. Its not just heterosexual men, she noted.
Not only are younger black activists reached in different ways, they also have f
ar higher expectations on leaders, dismissing boilerplate pleas for racial equal
ity and justice as insufficient.
Gone is the day of patience, said Tony J. Payton Jr., 35, a former Pennsylvania st
ate representative. No longer should we accept systemic racism.
Doubts about how aggressively Mrs. Clinton will move to combat racism are at the
heart of black suspicion toward her. Some African-Americans said her 1996 refer
ence to some young criminals as super-predators, and the legislation that Presiden
t Bill Clinton signed imposing stiff sentences on nonviolent offenders, have mad
e todays activists skeptical about her true intentions.
That stuff comes up unprompted, Mr. Belcher said.
Mr. Trump has turned to remarkably blunt language about blacks in recent weeks p
ortraying their communities as dystopian hellscapes and asking them, in courting
their support, What do you have to lose? Some African-American allies of Mrs. Cli
nton believe he is serving as her most effective get-out-the-vote lever.
He is literally saying something every day that is disrespectful to the black com
munity, said Michael Blake, a New York State assemblyman from the Bronx who worke
d on Mr. Obamas campaigns and is close to many Clinton aides.
Yet when African-American voters in the focus groups were shown campaign fliers
and asked to rate them, there was no mistaking what was most effective.
484
COMMENTS
A pamphlet with a picture of Mr. Trump that read, We have to beat the racists, fel
l flat with young black audiences.
Scoring much higher were a stark black and white handout showing the names of th
ose killed at the hands of the police and another with images of mothers of the
victims that said, Their Children Cant Vote, Will You?

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A version of this article appears in print on September 5, 2016, on page A1 of t
he New York edition with the headline: Young Blacks Voice Doubts About Clinton.
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