Pete Buttigieg Less Popular With Black People Than David Duke

Black people don’t like Pete Buttigieg, former Transportation Secretary.

Yet, one might think, black people Really I don’t like David Duke, former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Mostly true. But Duke, in some ways, is more popular with black voters than Buttigieg. (RELATED: Pete Buttigieg admits the Democratic Party failed to win over low-income voters in 2024)

Duke launched his Senate bid from Louisiana in 2016. This would be his third unsuccessful attempt to become a U.S. senator. Duke also ran two presidential campaigns, both of which (obviously) failed.

Duke received a favorable rating from about 16 percent of black respondents, according to a statewide survey of likely Louisiana voters conducted July 27-28, 2016. The University of New Orleans surveyed 614 respondents, yielding a margin of error of 3.95 percent. More blacks than whites favored Duke, between 16 and 14 percent. No more than 19 percent of the groups surveyed had a favorable opinion of the candidate.

Remember when Pete Buttigieg drank a Colt 45 out of a brown bag to try to get the black vote?

Hard to forget. Grind your teeth. It didn’t work. pic.twitter.com/4i6BmkVMZh

–Joey Mannarino 🇺🇸 (@JoeyMannarino) June 4, 2025

According to the poll, about 14 percent of black respondents said they would vote for Duke in the upcoming Senate primary. Duke would receive about 3% of the total vote in the primary, according to Ballotpedia.

Fast forward to fall 2025.

One of the most powerful crosstabs for Buttigieg I’ve seen in a poll recently, according to @YalePolling. pic.twitter.com/i8HRbNbIh5

-Zachary Donnini (@ZacharyDonnini) December 8, 2025

The Yale Youth Poll request 3,426 registered voters: “If the 2028 Democratic presidential primary were held today, and these were the candidates, which candidate would you vote for? » Options included California Governor Gavin Newsom, New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and failed presidential candidate Kamala Harris. (RELATED: If You Think Tim Walz Was Bad, Just Look at Kamala’s First Pick)

Buttigieg received 4 percent of the black vote. He performed better among whites, receiving 17 percent of the white vote in a hypothetical primary.

The Yale Youth Poll reported a margin of error of plus or minus 1.7 percentage points for the entire sample. To be sure, the Yale Youth poll did not ask respondents about their feelings toward Duke, which would likely perform poorly in a Democratic primary.

Poor Pete. Somehow, drinking alcohol from a brown paper bag didn’t do much to endear him to black voters.

Follow Natalie Sandoval on X: @NatSandovalDC