MONITOR: Election 2020

Undecided About Your Super Tuesday Vote? So Am I.

Melissa Harris-Perry talks with top-ranking Black women in the 2020 presidential campaigns before casting her Super Tuesday vote

People arrive at the Orange County, Florida, Supervisor of Elections office on the first day of early voting in Florida’s 2020 presidential preference primary on March 2, 2020, in Orlando, Florida. Photo: Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto/Getty Images

The firewall held for former Vice President Joe Biden in South Carolina. This past Saturday night, he claimed his first victory of the 2020 primary season, earning the support of more than 60% of African American voters in the Palmetto State. The remaining Democrats in the presidential nomination race now face a critical test as voters in 14 states voice their preferences in the Super Tuesday delegate bonanza. I am one of those voters. Yet even with Super Tuesday looming, I remain super undecided.

I am also in North Carolina, where early voting began weeks ago, and I’m ready to pull the lever in the city council, state legislative, congressional, and senate primaries. But when it comes to the presidential primary, I am the Black girl shrug emoji. And I am not alone.

Since late 2019, polls have tracked significant proportions of undecided Democrats. Within that group, Black folk from grassroots to leadership are still eyeing the available options with wary skepticism. As a professor of political science who’s been teaching, writing, and…