Donald Trump tells Kim Kardashian West she and Kanye West are 'boosting his approval with black voters'
Kardashian West met with US president, senior advisor Jared Kushner and other White House officials to discuss prison reform
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump reportedly used his meeting with Kim Kardashian West to tell her she and her husband, musician Kanye West, were boosting his popularity among black voters.
The reality TV star met with the US president, senior advisor Jared Kushner and other White House officials to discuss prison reform last week.
While both Mr Trump and Kardashian West said the meeting had gone well after it finished, they did not release full details about what had been discussed.
According to Bloomberg, Mr Trump focused on discussing his approval with the African-American community.
The world leader is believed to have said the high-profile couple, who got married in 2014, played an instrumental role in his support growing among that demographic.
The rapper, who has voiced his support for Mr Trump in the past, sparked controversy after he praised the president on Twitter on April – saying the two of them both had “dragon energy”. He also posted a selfie wearing one of Mr Trump’s red “Make America Great Again” baseball hats.
It was this praise which the billionaire property mogul later publicly cited for a significant increase in his approval among black men in a Reuters weekly tracking poll.
“Kanye West must have some power because you probably saw I doubled my African-American poll numbers. We went from 11 to 22 in one week,” Mr Trump said at the National Rifle Association’s annual conference in early May.
The poll he was crediting found the portion of black men approving of Mr Trump rose from 11 per cent the week ending 11 April to 22 per cent for the week ending 29 April.
However, the data shows support for the president had doubled among African-American men rather than the whole population like Mr Trump erroneously stated.
Kardashian West visited Mr Trump to campaign for the pardon of Alice Marie Johnson – a 63-year-old grandmother who is serving a life sentence for a first-time non-violent drug offence. She has served more than 20 years in prison.
Earlier this month, more than 200,000 people signed an online petition in Johnson’s favour after Kardashian West highlighted her case on social media.
After the meeting, Mr Trump shared a photo of himself with the stoically posed businesswoman.
“Great meeting with [Kim Kardashian] today, talked about prison reform and sentencing,” he tweeted.
"I would like to thank President Trump for his time this afternoon. It is our hope that the President will grant clemency to Ms Alice Marie Johnson who is serving a life sentence for a first-time, non-violent drug offence," Kardashian West wrote on Twitter after the visit.
She added: “We are optimistic about Ms Johnson’s future and hopeful that she – and so many like her-will get a second chance at life.”
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