President Joe Biden has been losing support from black voters, which could greatly damage his re-election campaign. The situation has been apparent over the past year, with more black folks no longer supporting him.

Now, it appears Team Biden has a plan for winning back these voters, and it probably won’t involve telling them they "ain't black" if they don’t vote for him.

Joe Biden is all but certain to win, and win big, in the first sanctioned Democratic primary in South Carolina early February.

But the president’s aides and allies increasingly view the contest as a crucial opportunity to quiet critics by demonstrating enthusiasm among Black voters — a major portion of the Democratic electorate there and a bloc with whom Biden is struggling.

They’ve responded by paying lavish — excessive, per some Democrats — attention to the state. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have appeared in South Carolina four times alone this month.

The Biden campaign announced on-the-ground aides in South Carolina way back in early December, before general-election battleground states had their own permanent staffers. A slew of surrogates have stumped there recently. And the campaign is investing six figures into paid advertising in South Carolina, including on television and Black radio stations.

They’ve responded by paying lavish — excessive, per some Democrats — attention to the state. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have appeared in South Carolina four times alone this month.

The Biden campaign announced on-the-ground aides in South Carolina way back in early December, before general-election battleground states had their own permanent staffers. A slew of surrogates have stumped there recently. And the campaign is investing six figures into paid advertising in South Carolina, including on television and Black radio stations.

This move comes after a growing concern among Democratic leaders that one of the party’s key constituencies might not turn out to support their candidate as they have in the past. Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), a key Biden ally, said that he is “very concerned about the black vote” after a New York Times/Siena College poll showed that 22 percent of black voters would back former President Donald Trump over Biden in November 2023. These numbers, if they hold steady until election day, would essentially hand the presidency to Trump, which explains why Clyburn is “very concerned.”

This shift in black voter sentiment is not surprising, given that many African Americans are becoming increasingly disillusioned with the Democratic Party. It appears many are fed up with nothing more than empty promises in exchange for their loyalty. Even though Democrats have positioned themselves as the party that actually cares about black people and other minorities, the lack of tangible results has pushed much of the black electorate away.

In an interview with Joe Scarborough, Clyburn insisted that the drop in Biden’s support has nothing to do with the president or the party. Instead, he claimed it was because of the conservative Supreme Court, which somehow torpedoed the Voting Rights Act.

An incredulous Joe Scarborough asks him: "Do you believe Joe Biden is doing that poorly among Black voters?"

Clyburn answered:

Absolutely not. Let me tell you what you are seeing there. People are focusing on some of the unfinished business. Sure, I’m disappointed, as any other black person, that we have not been able to renew the Voting Rights Act, but we are going to show why.

But guess who's fault it is: the GOP House and "conservative, MAGA-leaning Supreme Court" justices:

Why haven’t we done it? Because this conservative, MAGA-leaning Supreme Court has desecrated the Voting Rights Act, and we have not been able to get the Republicans in the Congress to renew it. And so a lot of black people are disappointed that that has not gotten done.

Cylburn also bemoaned the fact that Democrats were unable to renew the increase in the child tax credit, which he said "a lot of black people" are upset about.

That is very important in the African-American community. So when you ask the polling information, that’s what they give you. ‘No. I’m dissatisfied that we have not done these things.'

But, regardless of the Democrats’ excuses, it is clear that the black community is gradually pulling away from the party, which has done more than enough to lose the trust of African Americans. Of course, this does not necessarily mean that these voters will start backing Republican candidates. I suspect most of them will just not show up on election day, believing the situation to be hopeless. Still, it does provide an opportunity for the GOP if it wanted to begin making inroads with black voters.