https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/14/poll-biden-black-vp-185043 Poll: Black VP pick could boost Biden Kamala Harris has high net favorability ratings among African American voters. By MARC CAPUTO 04/14/2020 04:30 AM EDT Black voters in battleground states would be more enthusiastic about voting for Joe Biden in November if he chose an African-American woman as a running mate, a new poll shows. Biden is already highly popular with black voters, according to the poll of 800 black voters conducted for BlackPAC, a progressive-leaning advocacy group. But 55 percent of African-American voters said they would be more excited to turn out or vote for Biden if he picked a black woman to join his ticket, the poll showed. Another 27 percent said the pick made no difference because they’d stick with Biden. Only 7 percent said they would still vote for Donald Trump, who is deeply unpopular with black voters despite the president's outreach to them. Biden, who announced last month he would pick woman vice presidential candidate, has been under increasing pressure from allies and advocacy groups to pick a black woman, which would serve as a recognition that black voters fueled his primary win and could do the same in November with big turnout in key battleground states. “The choice of a black woman running mate is a motivating factor. That’s relevant. And it should be, and probably is, part of the Biden campaign’s calculations,” said Adrianne Shropshire, executive director of BlackPAC. Biden has repeatedly said he’ll choose the best candidate who’s ready to be president on day one, if need be. He has said he has about a dozen potential picks in mind, among them California Sen. Kamala Harris, the only African-American woman who ran against him in the primary. The poll shows 50 percent of those surveyed view Harris favorably and 18 percent unfavorably, giving her a net favorability rating of 32 percentage points. Georgia Democrats’ 2016 gubernatorial nominee Stacy Abrams, whom Biden advisers have also discussed as a running mate, has a net favorability rating of 36 points. Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, a Biden surrogate in Georgia and with black voters, is lesser-known than Harris and Abrams and has a net favorability rating of 17 points, as does Florida Rep. Val Demings. BlackPAC’s Shropshire points out that black voters also like white women who are seen as strong Democratic champions, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has a 40-point favorability rating but isn’t in the running for Biden’s veep. Two other senators who ran against Biden in the primary — Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (+33 point rating) and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar (+17 points) — are also on his shortlist. Biden had the highest net favorability rating in the poll: 58 percentage points. Trump had the lowest rating: -59, 117 points worse than Biden. Black voters widely dislike President Trump, according to the poll, and his handling of the coronavirus — a major issue in minority communities, where Covid-19 is hitting especially hard. The polling firm of Normington Petts conducted the online poll for BlackPAC from April 1-5 in Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Nevada. The margin of error is +/- 3.5 percentage points. The firm’s previous poll for BlackPAC, in November, accurately forecast Biden’s dominance with black voters. Black voters expressed a measure of unease with voting by mail in November, which could become necessary during the pandemic, especially in light of a disastrous Wisconsin primary last week that depressed African-American turnout. The poll showed that 64 percent of black voters said they had never before cast a vote-by-mail ballot. And though 49 percent said it should be no problem for them, 41 percent worried their vote might not count and another 7 percent fretted that the process will be complicated. Trump’s campaign is aiming to boost his African-American support to double digits this election after getting only 8 percent in 2016, according to exit polls. But this poll shows Trump stuck at 9 percent to Biden’s 83 percent — Biden is only six points below Hillary Clinton’s vote share in the 2016 national exit polls.