The pivotal swing state supported former President Donald Trump in 2016 before President Joe Biden flipped it back to the Democrats in 2020. And recent polls have shown Harris has a relatively durable lead over Trump in the state.
But Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the state’s two-term Democratic governor and a cochair of Harris’ presidential campaign, isn’t buying the rosy scenario.
While speaking Thursday during the the Texas Tribune Festival, Whitmer said she believed Harris can win Michigan in November but cautioned that the results will be closer than surveys have indicated. During her talk, the governor referenced a recent CNN/SSRS poll that showed Harris ahead of Trump by 48% to 43%.
“It makes me nervous to see any poll that says there’s a five-point lead for Kamala Harris in Michigan right now,” she said. “It’s just not true.”
“It’s going to be a very close race,” she continued. “I believe we can win it. And I believe we will. But it’s going to be very close.”
Democratic presidential nominees won Michigan in every election from 1992 to 2012. But Trump won the state in 2016 by winning over a slice of working-class and union voters who have long been a key part of the Democratic coalition in the state. Some of these voters backed Biden in 2020 and remain up for grabs ahead of November.
Trump has campaigned in the state in recent weeks and sought endorsements from union leaders in a state that Whitmer described as a “microcosm” of the United States.
“As we see these polls, I’m telling everyone, don’t get comfortable,” Whitmer said during her talk. “You cannot sleep on Michigan.”
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