CHICAGO — Voters in former President Barack Obama’s old backyard gave varying opinions on the 2024 presidential race, with several Black voters giving a vehement defense of former President Trump and suggesting that his recent uptick in Black support in the polls is legitimate.
“I’m a Trump fan,” Lavar Williams told Fox News Digital outside a Walmart on Doty Avenue on Chicago’s South Side as Democrats gathered for their convention at the nearby United Center.
“Everybody else I feel like they have a leash on them. Trump don’t have no leash on him.”
When asked if life was better under Trump’s presidency, Williams said, “I love Trump. I loved when he was in office. A lot of people say ‘Why do you say that?’ because I’m Black. But still, I loved when Trump was in office.”
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Chicago residents speak with Fox News Digital during the DNC. (Fox Digital )
Williams, who has lived in Chicago his entire life, also told Fox News Digital that Harris will have a hard time separating herself from Biden’s unpopular policies.
“You was the vice president, so everything this man did, you was approving of, everything that’s going on now, you was approving of, so why am I going to vote for you?” Williams said. “I’m not going to vote for her. I’m just letting you know where I’m at. I’m a Trump fan. Trump 2024.”
Vice President Kamala Harris clasps the hand of President Biden at the Democratic National Convention, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Harris rose to the top of the Democratic presidential ticket last month, when President Biden dropped out of the race amid mounting concerns over his mental acuity and age. Harris is in Chicago this week for the Democratic National Convention, where she will deliver a speech Thursday evening accepting her nomination.
Fox News Digital spoke with locals on the South Side of Chicago, where Obama worked as a community organizer before launching his political career, about their thoughts on the election, and if the last three and a half years under the Biden-Harris administration has benefited them and the Windy City at large.
“Me personally, I’m still up in the air,” disabled Navy veteran and Englewood neighborhood property owner Billy Johnson told Fox Digital. “I’m trying to see how all of this is going to play out. You know, I’m waiting to hear what the new candidate’s policies are in relationship to – compared to – Biden’s. I disagreed with a lot of things.”
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Navy vet Billy Johnson speaks to Fox Digital from his neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side. (Fox Digital )
Though Johnson has not yet landed on who he will vote for come Nov. 5, he praised Trump as an economic “genius,” while saying Harris is “dangerous.”
“That lady is dangerous. I mean, [Kamala] Harris can pull up information on you that most presidents can’t. You know, she can pull things, documents and stuff. It’s scary. Her access to Secret Service, CIA and all of that makes her one of the most dangerous presidents we might ever have. I wouldn’t worry about her foreign affairs policy, I would just fear for whoever comes up against her,” Johnson said.
He offered more favorable comments on Trump, while stopping short of endorsing him for a return to the Oval Office.
“Trump was a good president. He was inexperienced because he wasn’t a politician. The reason we elected him is because he’s a businessman, and we felt like that’s what we needed.… We need someone who is going to reignite our industrial prowess.”
“Trump, he’s a genius when it comes down to finance, I gotta tell you. You can say anything you want. He was the first president who ever gave his opinion while sitting on the toilet through Twitter. That really won him a big favor with the American public, because you got a president that communicates openly with the public,” he added.
Immigration is a top concern in the city of Chicago, alongside the nation overall, with Johnson arguing that the U.S. accepting millions of illegal immigrants and providing them with “privileges” is “crazy.”
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Chicago business owner Nas speaks with Fox Digital from outside a Walmart. (Fox Digital )
“Now you see why Trump kept the borders closed. Now that the border is open, we see an indifference in the privileges that are given to people that are noncitizens, which that’s not fair. Those opportunities were supposed to be given to citizens first – not immigrants. And the millions of dollars that’s being given to them, it makes the Black community feel like, ‘Wow, really? So us asking for reparations was too much.’ But yet, still, you provide housing, you giving these people stipends… that’s crazy.”
Former President Trump gestures during a campaign rally at the North Carolina Aviation Museum & Hall of Fame in Asheboro, North Carolina, Aug. 21, 2024. (Peter Zay/AFP via Getty Images)
Another Chicagoan, Nas, the owner of Z-Best catering who was selling meals outside of a far South Side Walmart, told Fox News Digital he hasn’t decided who he is voting for but was not a fan of some of Harris’ policies.
“I ain’t goin’ to lie to you, I know her background, what she has done, I know she’s locked up a lot of people off of just weed cases and stuff like that, just sending people away, so I really don’t care for her to be honest with you.”
Nas added that crime over the last four years under the Biden administration has gotten much worse and said life under Trump was better than now.
Chicagoan Nas speaks with Fox Digital about the upcoming election. (Fox Digital )
“I feel like he has done a better job than Biden has for sure.”
Johnny Williams, who spoke to Fox News Digital at a bus stop just steps from Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam house, said, “I plan on voting for Mr. Trump.”
“He’s about the money… when he was in the election we was eating.”
Johnny Williams speaks with Fox Digital on Chicago’s South Side. (Fox Digital )
Williams added that it is “rough for jobs” in his neighborhood compared to when Trump was president and “jobs was very easy going and I could get a job” when Trump was in office.
Fox News Digital also encountered several voters who either supported Harris or were open to her candidacy.
“I’ve decided I’m going to vote for Kamala Harris,” Betty Thompson, from the South Side’s Bronzeville neighborhood, told Fox News Digital.
Betty Thompson speaks with Fox Digital on Chicago’s South Side. (Fox Digital )
“I feel the campaign is going great,” Thompson said. “I think that she’s wonderful with speaking out. And truly, she is the only one that I have seen, and I’ve been voting for a long time, that is truly qualified to be president of the United States.”
Fox News Digital caught up with a man in the parking lot of the Doty Avenue Walmart who said he is supporting Harris and referred to Trump as “crooked.”
“That’s just the bottom line,” the man said. “I don’t want no crooked person in office. He’s not even qualified for it. He’s a felon. 34 times. Why would somebody want that type of person?”
Chicagoans spoke with Fox News Digital on Wednesday during the DNC. (Fox Digital )
Another Chicago resident who spoke to Fox Digital from a bus terminal north of the South Side in the city’s Jefferson Park neighborhood, Candy Shane, said she’s all in for Trump come Election Day.
“I am supportive of Trump for the simple [reason] he has helped a lot, a lot of the communities and different areas and aspects, and he really is fighting for us. And the thing is, it’s not so much putting a damper on one specific area. He goes all out. And he’s 100% honest. And I like that. He is himself, and I think he means well, and he’s done a lot of justice for this country. Versus a few other people, outside of Obama and… Obama did a lot of good stuff, too. However, I don’t really care for the dishonesty from Biden,” Shane said.
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As the DNC prepares for Harris’ speech on Thursday evening, the vice president has received an outpouring of support from high-profile Democrats, including former President Obama, former first lady Michelle Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as well as Biden.
Simultaneously, left-wing protesters associated with feminist, anti-Israel, environmental, and communist or socialist organizations have flooded the city to denounce the DNC and party leadership over its handling of the war in Israel. Dozens of protesters have been arrested this week as they clashed on the streets of Chicago, while activists slammed Harris as “Killer Kamala” as war continues in the Middle East.