Many public polls back up the skeptics in Mr. Trump's orbit. According to a Washington Post/Ipsos poll released last month, for instance, more than 80 percent of black respondents said that they believed Mr. Trump was racist and that he had helped to make racism a bigger problem in the country. Nine out of 10 black Americans in the poll said they disapproved of Mr. Trump's job performance.
Mr. Trump himself was a motivating factor for turning out African-American Democrats in the 2018 midterm elections. Voter participation among black people in 2018 grew from the 2014 midterms, according to data from the Pew Research Center.
Despite those numbers and the skepticism from colleagues, Mr. Kushner has been advising Mr. Trump that black voters can be converted into supporters if they are simply educated on his policies. Mr. Trump's biggest challenge, Mr. Kushner has told people, is a "knowledge gap" on many of the president's accomplishments, particularly on the issue of criminal justice reform, which Mr. Kushner has spearheaded.
Mr. Kushner has hosted black leadership summits at the White House. And two of the lone African-American West Wing staff members, Scott Turner and Ja'Ron Smith, have been traveling to black communities to make a pitch for Mr. Trump.