The latest black support numbers for President Trump are interesting but not surprising:   

Two new polls show President Donald Trump's rising support among black voters, highlighting his political gains from pushing employers to hire Americans instead of lower-wage migrants.

The growing support from blacks – despite furious Democratic claims of racism – could become a shocking political validation in November when Trump will face millions of upper-income Democratic voters who are angry at his "Buy American, Hire American" policies.

Among black men, Trump's "2017 average approval rating significantly exceeds his 2016 vote share," admitted a January 11 article in the Atlantic by author Ronald Brownstein.  "[Twenty-three] percent of black men approved of Trump's performance versus 11 percent of black women," said the article.

That score averages out to 17 percent, or twice the 8 percent score he was given in the 2016 exit polls.

In November 2016, Trump got 13 percent support among black men and 4 percent support among black women, according to the exit polls.  That very low support was critical to his victory in the Democrats' now[] demolished "Blue Wall" states.

The poll was "a cumulative analysis of 605,172 interviews SurveyMonkey conducted with Americans in 2017," according to the Atlantic.

What will this mean in 2018?  Probably not a lot in black-majority districts that the GOP will not even fight for.  However, it may tip a close Senate election in Missouri, Indiana, or Ohio.

Looking forward to 2020, these numbers may not hold, but it is enough to drive an identity politics specialist like Senator Durbin to play the race card.

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