African-American support for Mitt Romney is at 0 percent, according to a poll conducted by NBC and The Wall Street Journal in late August.
CNN says the "unwillingness of black voters to offer any measurable support for the Republican presidential candidate is unprecedented."
In past elections, CNN says 4 percent of blacks supported John McCain, 8 percent supported Bush in 2000; 11 percent in 2004; Ronald Reagan received 11 percent and the highest, Richard Nixon at 18 percent.
The article noted that one reason black voters don't support Romney is because the Republican party's treatment of Obama, which they see as an attack on "racial collective dignity." It points out the John Sununu incident where he called the president "lazy."
"The civil rights movement worked to bring about economic and political power, to be sure. But at the core of those rights was that people be treated with dignity and respect. So when the Harvard-educated, eloquent, high-minded first black president of the United States is heckled in front of his wife by a member of Congress during a nationally televised speech, it is a game-changing moment for millions of blacks," the article said.
The heckling the article refers to was by Rep. Joe Wilson, who told Obama "you lie" during a nationally televised speech."
This, as well as other Republican efforts to ensure Obama's failure in office such as Arizona State University refusing to give him an honorary doctorate degree, protests against his desire to send a message to children before the first day of school and the entire "birther" movement, has not sat well with African-Americans. In fact, the article says this is what has alienated black voters away from the Republican party.
Instead of chasing the black vote, analysts say Republican strategists will have to double down on the white vote.
The article says to watch says to expect racial appeals, specifically where strategists believe working-class whites can still be manipulated and "hostility" toward policies that "have been successfully racially identified in the minds of white, male voters: welfare, criminal justice, and support for public schools.