CV NEWS FEED // Former President Trump is one step closer to becoming the Republican presidential nominee for the third consecutive time after a convincing win in Tuesday’s Republican Primary in Michigan
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden continues to struggle in the polls both in Michigan, a key swing state, and nationwide.
In his landslide win, Trump appeared to carry all of the state’s 83 counties. With 31% of the vote reporting, the former president had 67.1% of the vote. Former Ambassador Nikki Haley received 27.9%. Haley is Trump’s only major GOP rival.
Biden also won his party’s Michigan primary but still faces immense challenges in his quest to secure a second term. With 27% of the vote total in, Biden had 80.0% of the vote. Another 14.3% of Democratic Primary voters cast “uncommitted” ballots – Michigan’s equivalent to Nevada’s “none of these candidates” option.
Observers seemed to agree that the protest of the thousands of “uncommitted” voters spells trouble for Biden’s re-election bid. An X (formerly Twitter) user pointed out: “In comparison, Trump got close to 94% of the vote in the 2020 Michigan Republican party as the incumbent President.”
In the past few presidential election cycles, Michigan – once a reliably Democratic state – has emerged as a prime battleground.
CatholicVote noted that in 2020, Biden carried the state “by a narrow margin – under three points.” Four years earlier, “Trump won the state in a major upset, coming out 11,000 votes – or 0.23% – ahead of Hillary Clinton.”
In recent head-to-head general election polls, Trump is consistently leading Biden among Michigan voters.
An Emerson College Michigan poll conducted last week showed Trump with a two-point lead over Biden without third-party candidates on the ballot, and a three-point lead with them on the ballot.
Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said during a CBS appearance a month ago, “It’s always going to be close in this state.”
She added that Michigan is “absolutely” up for play in November. Whitmer is a co-chair of Biden’s 2024 campaign.
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Biden is not only behind in a key swing state but throughout the country.
Tuesday’s Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ) nationwide polling average showed Trump with 45.5% of national support, 2.6% points ahead of Biden, who had 42.9% of support.
DDHQ noted that their average is “based on 578 polls” from a range of pollsters. The vast majority of these polls show Trump in the lead.
In addition, DDHQ indicated that Trump has led in their polling average since mid-September.
Republican political consultant Logan Dobson observed that “at this point in 2020, Biden led in polling averages by basically exactly what he ended up winning by.”
If Trump wins the national popular vote by 2.6% in November, it would be the largest popular vote margin for any Republican nominee since 1988.
Trump lost the popular vote by 2.1% to Hillary Clinton in 2016, but still won the general election due to the Electoral College vote.
Biden’s Policies Coming Home to Roost?
A traditionally Democratic voting bloc, unionized workers have a strong presence in Michigan.
While the United Auto Workers (UAW) union endorsed Biden for re-election, many of their members do not seem to agree and are souring on the incumbent president, citing his policies.
National Public Radio (NPR) acknowledged Tuesday morning that the UAW’s endorsement “doesn’t necessarily translate into votes.”
Michigan auto worker Brian Pannebecker explained his main reason for supporting Trump in the primary and general election during a Tuesday FOX News interview.
“All of Biden’s policies have basically hurt auto workers,” he told host Bill Hemmer.
“[Biden] showed up for 15 minutes to walk in a picket line and get his picture taken,” Pannebecker said. “Donald Trump walks the walk, he doesn’t walk the picket line for a photo-op.”
The auto worker said the Biden administration’s push to regulate gas vehicles – popularly dubbed an “electric vehicle (EV) mandate” – has negatively impacted his industry.
“We’ve had two engine plants close in Macomb County in the last few years while they were ramping up to build more [EVs],” he said. “What does an electric vehicle not need? An engine. We had entire plants with thousands of workers devoted to building gasoline engines and [Biden’s] getting rid of those,”
“[I]t’s a real easy decision for automakers to make,” Pannebecker continued. “We’re voting for Donald Trump on November 5th, [and] we’re out there in droves today voting in the primary.”
Pannebecker is a UAW member and has worked in the automobile industry for 38 years.
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