WI: Black voters threatened to stay home on election days if both parties supported the war on drugs

They would have no leverage then in elections and most of them, if they were hypothetically passionate about this one issue, would convince themselves to vote for the other party. The alternative of them not voting is that the Republicans are free to intensify the War on Drugs without any checks.
 
As has already been pointed out, there was widespread African American support for the war on drugs. But equally important is that even if blacks *had* opposed it, they were not one-issue voters and could not afford to boycott elections over the war on drugs when so many other important issues ranging from the economy to civil rights enforcement were at stake.

That's exactly what the Democrats would count on. I could imagine DNC internal discussions saying, "Let them calm down. They'll come around and turn out for us. They're not going to risk civil or economic benefits so MORE drugs show up on their streets."
 
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