Buttigieg’ focus group warned black voters found his sexuality a ‘barrier’ to supporting him in 2020

Pete Buttigieg’s own focus group warned black voters find his sexuality a ‘barrier’ to supporting 2020 Democrat with one saying: ‘How can you refer to God when a lot of people think you’re living ungodly?’

  • An internal focus group found this summer that African-American voters in South Carolina found issue with supporting an openly gay candidate
  • Buttigieg polls lowly in South Carolina, where nearly two-thirds of the Democratic primary voting bloc are black
  • He is open about his sexuality, and has even shared several public kisses with his husband Chasten
  • ‘[T]heir preference is for his sexuality to not be front and center,’ the report indicates

An internal focus group for Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign found the openly gay candidate is struggling with African-American voters because they find his sexuality to be a problem, it was revealed.

Benenson Strategy Group convened a 90-minute focus group in mid-July with 24 uncommitted black Democratic voters in Columbia, South Carolina, and the 21-page report was obtained by McClatchy and published Tuesday.

‘How can you refer to God when a lot of people think you’re living ungodly? You know what I’m saying,’ asked one male participant. 

Although the report indicated that his sexuality was a ‘disqualifer’ for voters, they said ‘being gay was a barrier… particularly for the men who seemed deeply uncomfortable even discussing it.

‘[T]heir preference is for his sexuality to not be front and center,’ it states.

An internal focus group for Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign found this summer that African-American voters in South Carolina found issue with supporting an openly gay candidate for president

Buttigieg is open about his sexuality, and has even shared several public kisses with his husband, school teacher Chasten

Buttigieg is open about his sexuality, and has even shared several public kisses with his husband, school teacher Chasten

The 37-year-old candidate has been very open about his sexuality, including kissing his husband Chasten, a school teacher, during his announcement rally in April – and several times on stage since then.

While this has been celebrated by establishment Democrats and donors, the survey shows that a major voting bloc in the party – African-Americans – have a different view of his sexuality.

Some participants in the survey questioned why Buttigieg brought it up in the first place, and indicated they would have preferred if he never mentioned being gay.

‘That’s not my thing but I wouldn’t want to know that as a candidate,’ one female participant under 40 said. ‘Too much information.’

‘I’ll go ahead and say it,’ a male participant said. ‘I don’t like the fact that he threw out there that he lives with his husband.’

Participants in the survey were aged 25-65, and only one of the 24 – a woman over 40-years-old – said she was considering voting for Buttigieg

All but one of the participants said they were considering voting for Joe Biden in 2020, with the report noting that it was ‘hard to underestimate the power of the Obama association with these voters.’

At the time the report was published, it described the former vice president as the ‘clear and dominant front runner,’ but recently he has been slipping in polls, especially region ones, where Elizabeth Warren has emerged No. 1 among likely Democratic voters in some key early caucus and primary states.

Some focus group members said they were curious if a foeeign leader would be able to accept a gay president and work on U.S. relations with him at the helm.

‘Are they going to relate to him with a husband?’ a woman over 40 questioned.

A male participants said, ‘We need someone in the position now as a strong leader coming from what we have now, and that’s the only reason I think that would hurt him.’

Brandon Neal, who is leading Buttigieg’s African-American outreach, said it’s more a matter of people not being familiar with Buttigieg than his sexuality in general.

‘Once people meet him, they like him. It’s a thing of, ‘We don’t know who he is,’ Neal said.

In South Carolina, the second primary election state, African-American voters make up nearly two-thirds of the Democratic primary electorate.

Several polls show Buttigieg struggling in the key state, with Buttigieg polling with less than one per cent among black voters in the state in recent Fox News poll, compared to his average of 6 per cent in national polls.

Revelations of the survey come as reports confirmed fellow Harvard University alumni Mark Zuckerberg recommended campaign staff to Buttigieg, and he ultimately hired two names that were passed along.

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk