Another Column About Nervous Dems in Michigan

Dale G. Young

Another day, another column worried that Michigan may not turn out for the Democrats. Today the column is in the Washington Post. The message here is that in one swing county, abortion doesn't seem to be motivating voters the way it did in 2022:

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What if abortion is not the galvanizing issue on Election Day that Democrats are expecting? What I heard in Michigan last weekend made me wonder. Here in the 7th District, a congressional bellwether carried by Donald Trump in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020, many voters just don’t prioritize the right to choose nearly as much as they did two years ago...

While Harris is winning college-educated women by large margins, there’s growing anxiety among top Democratic operatives that enthusiasm about voting for her has gotten shakier across the three blue-wall states that present her clearest path to the presidency: Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Slotkin recently told donors that her polling has Harris “underwater” in this state where 16 electoral votes are up for grabs. Trump has also been making incremental inroads with traditional Democratic constituencies, including Arab Americans and Black men, which could make the difference in a race as tight as this.

There's a pretty obvious reason this doesn't resonate in Michigan the way it might in some other places. Politico discussed this in an interview with a reporter who is focused on the state.

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The Harris campaign is mobilizing around abortion rights and the issue is a critical element in its messaging. But in Michigan, the legislature repealed a 1931 ban that criminalized providing abortion care and in 2022 voters passed an amendment to the state’s constitution guaranteeing the right to abortion. Has that affected either party’s approach to the issue or removed its salience from the presidential race there?

Michigan Democrats can largely credit their capture of government statewide to that ballot initiative enshrining abortion rights that turned out the base en masse. And once Democrats had the gavel in the state legislature, they repealed a 1931 ban that criminalized providing abortion care. But it’s been more than two years since Roe fell, and while Democrats have had a stunning winning record due to the reproductive rights rallying cry, there are concerned whispers within Democratic circles about whether that momentum can be sustained, especially in a state like Michigan where voters may feel the issue has been taken care of by the party in charge.

So the only way this becomes an issue in the presidential race is if Trump is running on passing a national ban, something he has said he doesn't support. Meanwhile, Trump is making inroads. Even in a college town in Lansing, he can find his people.

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A Trump campaign bus tour stopped last weekend at the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity house ahead of MSU’s football game against Ohio State University. More than 250 students, including a few dozen wearing MAGA hats, gathered for free pizza and to hear North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R), runner-up in the veepstakes...Burgum asked the raucous crowd: “Would you rather graduate into a Trump economy or a Kamala economy?” They started chanting “Trump.”

Afterward, several sorority sisters lined up to take selfies in front of the Trump bus. Abortion didn’t come up.

The polls show this remains a squeaker. The most recent polls have Harris up +3 but that's still within the margin of error.

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