A former KKK leader has more support from black voters than Donald Trump

Former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke is more popular among black voters in his home state of Louisiana than Donald Trump is among black voters across the country.

The former leader of the Ku Klux Klan and self-professed Trump supporter is campaigning for the open Louisiana Senate seat being vacated by retiring Senator David Vitter. The University of New Orleans’ Survey Research Center recently conducted a poll to measure Duke’s support among Louisiana voters and found that Duke had the support of about 14 percent of the state’s black voters.

The New York Times’ Campbell Robertson was first to point out on Twitter that Duke’s support among Louisiana’s black voters eclipses Donald Trump’s support among black voters nationally. Trump’s national numbers among black voters have ranged between 2 and 4 percent in polls conducted over the past several weeks by reputable national polling outlets.

As the Washington Post notes, there are several reasons to be cautious when comparing the Louisiana survey to national polling. The Louisiana poll was conducted only using landline phones which limits the diversity of its sample and asked respondents specifically about David Duke, instead of offering them several candidates to choose from.

It is also worth noting that in the last two presidential elections Republican candidates only earned between 4 to 6 percent of the black vote, making Donald Trump’s paltry numbers among black voters only slightly worse than his predecessors.

Still, Trump’s comparatively low figures are surprising, given that one of the most offensive and damaging moments in the Trump campaign came when their candidate refused to immediately disavow David Duke on national television.