Conservative radio talker Rush Limbaugh said Donald Trump's appeal to black voters could succeed in luring at least some of them away from the Democratic Party.

On his show Monday, Limbaugh said Trump's pitch to the black voters during a campaign rally in Dimondale, Mich., last week was essentially a Hail Mary with Trump selling himself with the line, "What the hell do you have to lose?" It was effective, based on the news coverage it inspired, he said.

"They are loaded for bear," Limbaugh said of the news media. "They are outraged that Trump would make an appeal to African American voters."

He said many Democratic leaders and media figures are usually the ones to highlight struggles particular to blacks, but that when Trump referred to those same problems in his speech, news reports attempted to portray black Americans as doing relatively well.

"So the implied question [in Trump's remarks] is, you've been voting for the Democratic Party your entire life and for the entire life of your grandparents and you're still complaining about the same things and you're right. … So where is all of this improvement?" he said. "Where are the results of the Democratic Party looking out for you? … I have always thought an appeal like that would work."

During the rally, the Republican nominee said black voters, who tend to vote in large majorities for Democratic presidential candidates, would not see their fortunes rise by voting for Hillary Clinton.

"I say it again: What do you have to lose?" Trump said. "What do you have to lose? You're living in poverty. Your schools are no good. You have no jobs. Fifty-eight percent of your youth is unemployed. What the hell do you have to lose?"

Most polls show Trump with support among black voters in the single digits.