Probably at least ninety percent of black people in my area think Lincoln was a democrat.Probably ninety nine plus percent think the republican party is the party of choice for white racists. Somebody needs to wake up. There is a lot room for black people in the real world now, not many want to live there anymore.
The ignorance you describe isn’t confined to blacks, of course. I recently saw a quote of Winston Churchill along the lines of “The best argument against democratic rule is to spend five minutes talking to a member of the electorate” or something to that effect. An old friend of mine often says that “Average is pretty stupid.” And, sadly, he is right.
The vast majority of voters has no inkling as to what the issues even ARE, much less what position might or ought to be taken regarding those issues. As you suggest, Americans’ knowledge of history is abysmal. It is hard to determine just what drives the vote of most in America. Not only blacks, but most people tend to vote as their parents do/did, or to base their vote on superficial matters, including, but certainly not limited to race, appearance, and I fear, what the polls say about how everyone ELSE is voting.
Fortunately, at least for now, the constitution protects us from ourselves.