President Joe Biden is facing pressure from outside advocates and one of his top public health officials to approve long-awaited federal rules that would ban menthol cigarettes, but the White House fears doing so could alienate the president from black voters even further.
The Food and Drug Administration finalized its policy for banning methanol cigarettes in October of last year, but the Biden administration continues to delay giving it the green light as Biden enters reelection season — a time where he will depend on support from the black community, one of his historically-loyal voting blocs.
FDA Commissioner Robert Califf has privately asked public health experts and friends to lobby the White House to consider the long-delayed policy, sources told Politico. Califf believes Biden’s support for the ban is waning as the president’s team is concerned about how banning a popular product for the black community could sink his approval with them even further.
In 2020, 92% of black voters voted for and boosted Biden to the nomination, and he ultimately won the 2020 election with 87% of the black vote, according to exit polls.
However, Biden’s approval rating among black voters remains in peril heading into the 2024 election. A November poll from the New York Times and Siena College found that 22% of black voters in six of the most important battleground states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — said they would vote for former President Donald Trump in next year’s election and 71% would back Biden. This is a significant step up for Trump, who received 8% of black voters in 2020 and 6% in 2016, according to the Pew Research Center.
In a January poll from USA Today/Suffolk University, Biden claimed only 63% of black voters.
A Republican presidential candidate has not won more than 12% of the black vote in nearly 50 years. Conversely, no Democratic presidential candidate since the civil rights era has earned less than 80% of the black vote.
Califf’s actions to push outside pressure on the president show the lengths the FDA will go to push the policy forward. The commissioner considers the ban on menthol cigarettes a top public health priority, arguing it can eliminate the top cause of cancer that disproportionately affects minorities and young people.
“Fundamentally, these bold actions are about saving hundreds of thousands of lives each year,” Califf said during a media call in 2022, when the FDA first proposed the menthol ban. “Prohibiting menthol in cigarettes would mean over 18.5 million menthol cigarette smokers ages 12 and older in the United States would have a better shot at quitting.”
Menthol is the last remaining flavored cigarette on the market, and it is the overwhelming choice for black smokers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Anti-tobacco groups have argued the industry is aggressively marketing the product to black smokers, with the taste making it easier for young people to become addicted.
On the other side, black community activists, including allies close to Biden, have pushed back against the possibility of a ban. People such as the Rev. Al Sharpton and civil rights attorney Ben Crump have argued the ban will give police more reason to target black people.
A representative for Sharpton’s group, the National Action Network, told Politico that it shares concerns that “this ban will lead to unintended consequences for Black people selling loose cigarettes.” Sharpton said in an interview shortly after the FDA proposed the ban that black people would not stop smoking “Newports and Kools” because of a rule.
“They’re going to go and get them from people that go to the street in the black market. Then what happens? That’s all I’m asking,” Sharpton said.
Tobacco industry officials have recruited black Democratic lawmakers, such as former Reps. G.K. Butterfield and Kendrick Meek, to advocate on their behalf, as well.
However, now the federal agency is worried the Biden administration will delay advancing the policy until after the 2024 election. In late November, Democratic pollster Cornell Belcher began circulating a poll, paid for by tobacco company Altria, showing that Biden’s support among black voters could take a severe hit if he approves the menthol ban.
Califf has brought on internal senior officials at the White House and the Health and Human Services Department to advocate the ban, people close to the discussions said to Politico. Biden aides have also been personally pressed on the issue by Califf.
The commissioner alluded to the roadblocks he’s encountered in his efforts to push the White House to finalize the menthol ban at an event last month hosted by Alliance for a Stronger FDA.
“In the last year of this administration, so many things happen with a lot of pressure to get things finished, and sometimes political pressure comes into play,” the commissioner said. “A lot of considerations have to be navigated.”
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The common consensus among officials is that few of Califf’s pleas have landed, leaving the decision completely in the hands of Biden and his top advisers.
“Everybody’s done what they could do,” a senior administration official said.