Sports personality Stephen A. Smith, a self proclaimed fiscal conservative and social liberal, recently sat down with The Rubin Report podcast to discuss a plethora of political topics, including former President Barack Obama.

Among many takes, Smith states he was “misinformed” about voting for Donald Trump but ultimately chose not to support the 47th President with his vote. 

Smith later said his mind almost changed when Obama spoke to a Pittsburgh crowd about the misogyny Vice President Kamala Harris faced. 

Obama’s words impacted Smith’s perspective on Harris vote

“Part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that,” Obama said to Harris-Walz campaign volunteers and officials at a field office in Pittsburgh.

As a matter of fact, a poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that about seven in 10 Black voters had a favorable view of Harris and preferred her leadership to that of Trump on several major policy issues including the economy, health care, abortion, immigration and the war between Israel and Hamas.

Early exit polls from The Washington Post show that 78% of Black men voted for Kamala Harris.

After praising deceased veteran and Senator John McCain, Smith stated there was no other presidential nominee that he would’ve supported in 2008 other than former President Barack Obama. Nonetheless, Smith stated that he was “offended” by Obama’s inference that Black men were misogynistic if they elected to vote for Trump over Harris. 

Data shows Black men would’ve been held responsible for vote either way

“We said early on, based on our data, that the mainstream media was going to continue to prepare to blame Black men for whatever the results of this election were going to be,” said Dr. David Johns, Executive Director and CEO of the National Black Justice Coalition.

About one in five younger Black men say they supported Donald Trump, according to polling of voters done for the NAACP between Oct. 11-17, 2024. 

While Smith may be conservative-leaning regarding finances, his personal views on societal shifts in culture are that of a self-admitted misinformed public figure who is far removed from the realities of voters who simply supported the best candidate for the job.

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