The NAACP plans to spend $20 million to encourage Black Americans, a critical voting bloc in the presidential race, to vote in 12 states this fall.
The investment, details of which were first shared with NBC News, includes $6 million for local NAACP chapters and partners, $1 million for surveys and research and $1.4 million for text messages.
In seven key battleground states—Arizona, North Carolina, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Georgia—the NAACP will spend $3 million on radio ads in black communities and $2 million on mailers aimed at getting voters to the polls.
The NAACP’s campaign is not designed to benefit specific candidates, but rather to broadly mobilize and educate Black voters ahead of the 2024 election.
The messaging will urge black Americans to check their voter registration, find their polling place, encourage them to vote early and tell them how to reach the NAACP if they experience intimidation or harassment at the polls. The group plans to reach more than 14.5 million black voters.
“While threats to our democracy are present and dangerous, our commitment to making our voices heard is unwavering,” said NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson. “This November, the most important Black job – for all of us – is to get to the ballot box and make our voices heard. The only way to fight these radical extremists is your voice.”
Black voters are expected to play an important role in the race for the White House between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. While black voters traditionally support Democrats, the margin of victory and turnout between the group can make a big difference.
New Howard University Public Opinion Polling Initiative In Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, 82% of likely black voters said they would vote for Harris, while 12% said they supported Trump.
For comparison, polls in the same states showed that President Joe Biden won 89% of black voters, and 9% for Trump.