Opinion: Hillary Clinton's got a problem with black voters

Voters at a Hillary Clinton rally in Fort Lauderdale, Florida (Newshub)
Voters at a Hillary Clinton rally in Fort Lauderdale, Florida (Newshub)

"If you see another Caucasian here, then like you he is in the wrong place."

That’s what a guy half-jokingly told me about Broward County in Fort Lauderdale.

It is a major Afican-American neighbourhood and that's why Hillary Clinton is campaigning here.

Voter turn-out is a priority for her. One poll shows Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump has taken the lead.

He's on 46 percent - up 8 percent from a week ago, with Ms Clinton dropping to 45 percent, down five percent.

Tonight's rally location is the Reverend Samuel Delevoe Memorial Park - symbolically, he was one of Florida’s first black police officers and ended up getting shot.

Opinion: Hillary Clinton's got a problem with black voters

Voters at a Hillary Clinton rally in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

You see, Hillary Clinton has problem: in the battleground state of Florida, her black troops don’t want to fight like they used to.

Black voter turnout is low in Florida and it could cost Clinton the state, and therefore the election.

I’ve been at early voting booths in African-American communities in North Miami and Broward County and you can tell there is no energy. Those who are voting seem reluctant and resigned. There is a perfect word to describe it: listless.

On the Main Street of Broward I had a yarn with a guy called Reg who summed it up like this: "I ain’t voting. No way. I just don't trust either of them."

Opinion: Hillary Clinton's got a problem with black voters

A Hillary Clinton supporter in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

This is reflected in the official early voting statistics - African-American voters are not turning out anywhere like they did for Barack Obama in 2012.

The top Democrats are worried and there is now a total blitz on in Florida, with Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden all adding stops.

Florida holds the key to stopping Donald Trump. If Clinton wins here, it is over for him. And it seems getting black voters to turn out is the key to winning Florida.

Newshub.