WASHINGTON: Aiming to make a dent in the support base of his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has urged the African-American community, which had steadfastly backed the former in primaries, to join his campaign for a "better future".
"Tonight, I am asking for the vote of every African-American citizen in this country who wants a better future," Trump yesterday said at an election rally in Michigan during which he alleged that Clinton has done "nothing for them".
"No group in America has been more harmed by Hillary Clinton's policies than African-Americans. If Hillary Clinton's goal was to inflict pain on the African-American community, she couldn't have done a better job," Trump said.
Latest polls suggests that Clinton has support of over 90 per cent of African-Americans, while Trump has little or negligible support in the large community where unemployment rate is very high and so is poverty.
"Look at how much African-American communities are suffering from democratic control. To those I say the follow, what do you have to lose by trying something new like Trump? What do you have to lose?" he asked amidst huge applause from the audience.
"Look, what do you have to lose? You live in your poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58 per cent of your youth is unemployed, what the hell do you have to lose? And at the end of four years, I guarantee you, that I will get over 95 per cent of the African-American vote, I promise you; because I will produce for the African-Americans," Trump said.
The Clinton campaign was quick to criticise Trump over his alleged past history against the community.
"Donald Trump asks what the African-American community has to lose by voting for him. The answer is everything from a man who questions the citizenship of the first African-American President, courts white supremacists, and has been sued for housing discrimination against communities of colour," said Hillary for America Director of State Campaigns and Political Engagement Marlon Marshall.
"Trump painting the entire community as living in poverty with no jobs continues to show he is completely out of touch with the African American community," Marshall said.