Jamaal Stokes’s quality of life in Milwaukee has declined over the past decade, just as it has for many other Black residents.
He lost his well-paying factory job in the mid-2010s, when his company left town. He spent the next several years toiling in temporary jobs as he searched for stable employment. Mr. Stokes, 44, now works as a security guard at a local supermarket, even as he struggles to afford groceries himself.
This presidential election, he paid little attention to Donald J. Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris, because national politics are “not the answer.”
“So what’s the point?” he asked. “I’m just kind of over it all.”
In the final weeks of the campaign, many Democrats hoped that signs of crumbling support among Black voters would not materialize at the polls.
The historic nature of the campaign, with the possibility of the country electing a Black and Indian American woman as its leader, inspired some confidence.
There was also an expectation that Mr. Trump’s baggage would be poisonous, as he was heavily criticized for trying to discredit Ms. Harris’s racial identity, spreading vicious disinformation about Haitians eating pets and accusing immigrants of taking “Black jobs.”