For much of the modern civil-rights era, Black voters have been the Democratic Party’s most loyal constituency. According to the Pew Research Center, 83% of Black registered voters identified as Democrats or leaned Democratic in 2023, compared with 12% who identified as or leaned Republican. While that still represents overwhelming Democratic support, it is a modest decline from 2020, when 88% of Black voters aligned with the Democratic Party. Pew also found that Democratic identification among Black college graduates has fallen noticeably over the past decade, suggesting that the Black electorate is becoming more politically diverse than in previous generations. The shift toward political independence among Black voters did not emerge overnight. Researchers have observed signs of weakening partisan attachment since the late 2000s and early 2010s, particularly among younger voters who came of age after the historic election of Barack Obama. Pew's long-term analysis shows that you...