Michigan

Exclusive: Joe Biden’s nightmare polling in Michigan

Published

2 years ago

December 12, 2023

Exclusive: Joe Biden’s nightmare polling in Michigan

It is a state that Joe Biden won by just 150,000 votes in 2020, and one of the key battlegrounds in the 2024 presidential election.

It is also a state in which the Democrats made a series of gains the last time elections were held in 2022.

But despite the recent successes, Biden could be headed for disaster in Michigan, exclusive polling for Newsweek has shown.

According to the survey of eligible voters in Michigan by Redfield and Wilton Strategies, the president is facing disapproval in the state across a range of issues, from his job performance generally, to his response to the recent United Auto Workers (UAW) strikes.

U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House on December 6, 2023. Polling for Newsweek shows Biden is facing a series of negative ratings in Michigan.
Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Biden took the state from his Republican rival and GOP frontrunner Donald Trump in 2020 after Trump flipped it by less than 0.3 percentage points in 2016. Three years on, 49 percent of voters in the Midwestern state disapprove of Biden’s job performance while 35 percent approve, the poll found. This leaves him with a net approval rating of -14 percent.

Michigan is, along with Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, one of the so-called “blue wall” states that Biden returned to the Democrats in 2020, helping him to win the White House. A New York Times and Siena College poll on November 5 showed that voters are backing Trump by margins of 4 to 10 percentage points in five of six important battleground states, including Michigan.

One year prior to the 2024 election, the latest Newsweek poll sheds further light on voters’ ill-feeling towards the president.

Biden’s Reaction to Israel at War

The polling, carried out between November 25 and 26 with a sample size of 860, also offered an insight into what voters make of Biden’s response to the war between Israel and Hamas.

On October 7, Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, which prompted the Israelis to carry out extensive airstrikes and a ground offensive against the militants in Gaza. As of December 1, more than 13,300 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza, per the Associated Press. Some 1,200 Israelis have been killed, the outlet said.

The U.S. has long been an ally of Israel and, following the attack, Biden reiterated Washington’s support. He said that Israel has the right to defend itself, proposing $14 billion in aid and providing weapons.

While this stance has been echoed by other Western countries, representatives from several international organizations including Volker Turk, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, and U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths have called for a ceasefire.

Despite 48 percent of Michigan voters saying they are sympathetic to the Israeli side of the conflict compared with 37 percent who sympathize with the Palestinians, and more voters than not disapproving of Rashida Tlaib, the Michigan Democrat who was censured over for comments about the conflict including calling for a ceasefire, Biden has a -18 percent approval rating about his response to the war. Forty-six percent disapprove and 28 percent approve of his response.

Muslim community leaders from several swing states, including Michigan, pledged to withdraw support for Biden during a conference in Detroit in December because of his refusal to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. Michigan has the highest number of Arab Americans in the country and in 2020, 64 percent of Muslim voters nationally supported Biden, compared with 35 percent who supported Trump, according to Associated Press VoteCast. If Biden loses this key base, Michigan could flip to the Republicans in 2024 once more.

Biden’s Support for UAW Strikes

In September, the UAW declared targeting Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, pushing the three major car companies for better pay and conditions.

During the strike, Biden visited the state and came out in support of the striking workers in what was a first for a sitting president.

He told the picketing workers they “deserve the significant raise you need and other benefits.”

Around the same time, Trump, in a Truth Social post, said that car workers are “toast” if they do not endorse him, held a rally in Detroit, and claimed Biden was only visiting the state because he was.

A majority of Michigan voters, 48 percent, supported the UAW decision to strike, which ended in October after workers secured a deal with General Motors, which included a 25 percent wage increase across a four-and-a-half year deal with cost of living adjustment. But between Biden and Trump, 42 percent believe Trump has provided greater support for auto workers in Michigan, while 39 percent believe Biden has.

Newsweek has contacted the Michigan Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee by email for comment.

Biden UAW — Biden addresses striking members of the United Auto Workers union at a picket line in Belleville, Michigan, on September 26, 2023. Voters said his rival Donald Trump had shown auto workers greater support.
Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images

‘The President Is Failing To Resonate’

Thomas Gift, associate professor of political science in the School of Public Policy at University College London, said the poll showed Biden is struggling to resonate with the local electorate, meaning Trump could “make a serious run” at the state.

“Michigan has traditionally been a critical brick in the so-called ‘blue wall’ that’s propelled various Democrats to the White House dating back 30 years. Trump was able to flip the Wolverine state narrowly in 2016, and if recent polling is indicative, he looks poised to make a serious run at it again,” he told Newsweek.

“For Biden, low approvals in Michigan reflect a broader trend across the Rust Belt, which extends to states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and elsewhere, in which the president is failing to resonate both on cultural and kitchen-table issues. With broader demographic trends of working-class whites shifting toward the Republican Party, Democrats need to make up for these losses with more mobilization of urban and young voters in places like Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Ann Arbor. Right now, Biden is struggling to do exactly that.”

But for 79-year-old Ed Malkin, a Democratic-leaning independent and retired pharmacist who has lived in Michigan for all of his life, Biden’s problems are more about communication than substance.

“They need someone to takeover their marketing because it is sad how the general public have no idea what he [Biden] has done and what he’s accomplished,” he told Newsweek, adding that the president’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and infrastructure investment had impressed him.

Joe Biden's Nightmare Polling in Michigan — Photo-illustration by Newsweek/Getty

On Israel, he said voters are swayed by what they see on social media and can be uneducated about the conflict. Nevertheless, he said that “I think he [Biden] is doing a remarkable job of walking a tightrope of being a friend of Israel” and remaining “as moderate as possible.”

“He is taking a hard stance that needs to be taken on bullies,” he added. “Someone has to do it.”

Talking about why voters are turning against Biden in the state, he said it was “disillusioning and disheartening to think that the Democrats can’t do a better job.”

“There’s a tremendous amount of work ahead of him [Biden] to convince people and educate people why they should vote for him again,” he said.

In a series of elections held on November 8, 2022, Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer was re-elected with a comfortable margin. The party also took full control of the state government for the first time since 1983 and maintained control of seven seats in the House of Representatives.

On the polling evidence, whether Biden will be able to replicate that success in 2024 is open to question.

Uncommon Knowledge

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Michigan

How MSU’s deer vaccine capsules could curb black-legged ticks in Michigan

Published

2 days ago

September 23, 2025

Press Room

How MSU’s deer vaccine capsules could curb black-legged ticks in Michigan

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Black-legged ticks have been increasing across Michigan this summer, raising concerns about tick-borne illnesses like Lyme disease.

—> Michigan health officials alarmed by surge in Lyme disease cases

Researchers at Michigan State University say the large white-tailed deer population plays a key role in spreading these ticks.

To address the problem, MSU scientists are testing food capsules containing biomarkers to see if deer will eat them.

Each capsule currently includes corn, alfalfa, molasses, and a biomarker that helps track how many deer consume the capsules.

If successful, the capsules will eventually contain a vaccine to help deer build immunity to ticks, similar to how dogs are vaccinated.

The goal is to reduce the number of ticks on deer, which could lower the risk of tick-borne diseases for people spending time outdoors.

MSU professors describe this as an innovative method that could be a game-changer for controlling black-legged ticks and Lyme disease in Michigan. The capsules are being introduced in selected parks and land preserves in the Mid-Michigan area as part of the early phase of this research.

In the future, the team plans to add a drug or vaccine to the capsules to eliminate ticks on deer, aiming to stop the problem at its source.

—> 4 ways to protect yourself from ticks in Michigan, and 4 things to do after you’re outside

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Michigan

Trump administration renews push to fire Fed governor from Michigan ahead of key vote

Published

2 weeks ago

September 14, 2025

Press Room

Trump administration renews push to fire Fed governor from Michigan ahead of key vote

Alan Suderman
| Associated Press

President Donald Trump’s administration renewed its request Sunday for a federal appeals court to let him fire Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s board of governors, a move the president is seeking ahead of the central bank’s vote on interest rates.

The Trump administration filed a response just ahead of a 3 p.m. Eastern deadline Sunday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, arguing that Cook’s legal arguments for why she should stay on the job were meritless. Lawyers for Cook argued in a Saturday filing that the Trump administration has not shown sufficient cause to fire her, and stressed the risks to the economy and country if the president were allowed to fire a Fed governor without proper cause.

Sunday’s filing is the latest step in an unprecedented effort by the White House to shape the historically independent Fed. Cook’s firing marks the first time in the central bank’s 112-year history that a president has tried to fire a governor.

“The public and the executive share an interest in ensuring the integrity of the Federal Reserve,” Trump’s lawyers argued in Sunday’s filing. “And that requires respecting the president’s statutory authority to remove governors ‘for cause’ when such cause arises.”

Bill Pulte, a Trump appointee to the agency that regulates mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, has accused Cook of signing separate documents in which she allegedly said that both the Atlanta property and a home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, also purchased in June 2021, were both “primary residences.” Pulte submitted a criminal referral to the Justice Department, which has opened an investigation.

Trump relied on those allegations to fire Cook “for cause.”

Cook, the first Black woman to serve as a Fed governor, referred to the condominium as a “vacation home” in a loan estimate, a characterization that could undermine claims by the Trump administration that she committed mortgage fraud. Documents obtained by The Associated Press also showed that on a second form submitted by Cook to gain a security clearance, she described the property as a “second home.”

Cook sued the Trump administration to block her firing and a federal judge ruled Tuesday that the removal was illegal and reinstated her to the Fed’s board.

The administration appealed and asked for an emergency ruling just before the Fed is set to meet this week and decide whether to reduce its key interest rate. Most economists expect they will cut the rate by a quarter point.

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Michigan

Michigan football vs. Central Michigan: Live updates, score, injuries

Published

2 weeks ago

September 13, 2025

Press Room

Michigan football vs. Central Michigan: Live updates, score, injuries

It’s an in-state matchup on Saturday, Sept. 13, as Michigan football (1-1) takes on the Central Michigan Chippewas (1-1) for the Wolverines’ second home game of the season.

After a loss on the road at Oklahoma last week in which Michigan struggled to generate offense, the Wolverines — and particularly freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood — are looking to sharpen their offensive skills against a weaker Chippewas.

They’ll have to do so without coach Sherrone Moore, however. The coach is serving the first of a two-game suspension sanctioned by the school for his role in the Connor Stalions sign-stealing scandal. In the interim, Biff Poggi will lead the Wolverines.

Michigan’s task will be to hone its skills on both sides of the ball, but with an emphasis on offense. The Wolverines struggled to run the ball last week and Underwood had difficulty connecting with receivers downfield as well. Central Michigan provides a perfect opportunity for Michigan to build its offensive cohesiveness before beginning Big Ten play.

Follow along below for live updates.

Michigan football vs. Central Michigan early availability report

Michigan – Out: QB Davis Warren (knee), OT Andrew Babalola (knee). Probable: DB Rod Moore (knee), DB Shamari Earls (undisclosed), DB Caleb Anderson (undisclosed). Questionable: TE Marlin Klein (right foot/ankle), DB Zeke Berry (lower body), RB John Volker (undisclosed), LB Jaydon Hood (undisclosed), RB Bryson Kuzdzal (undisclosed), RB Donovan Johnson (undisclosed), edge Devon Baxter, DT Ike Iwunnah (undisclosed), WR C.J. Charleston (undisclosed). Doubtful: OL Gio-EL Hadi (left ankle/foot)

Central Michigan – Missed Week 2: TE Rory Callahan, OL John Iannuzzi.

Matchup: No. 22 Michigan (1-1) vs. Central Michigan (1-1)

Kickoff: Noon Saturday, Sept. 13; Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor.

TV/radio: Big Ten Network; WCSX-FM (94.7).Looking for a free mini puzzle? Play the USA TODAY Quick Cross now.

Line: Wolverines by 27½.

Michigan football schedule 2025

Week 1: W, 34-17 vs New Mexico.

Week 2: L, 13-24 at Oklahoma

Week 3: vs Central Michigan, Saturday Sept. 13, noon ET (Big Ten Network).

Week 4: at Nebraska, Saturday Sept. 20, 3:30 p.m. ET (CBS).

Week 5: BYE.

Week 6: vs Wisconsin, Saturday Oct. 4, 12 p.m. or 3:30 p.m.

Week 7: at USC, Saturday Oct. 11, time TBD.

Week 8: vs Washington, Saturday Oct. 18, time TBD.

Week 9: at Michigan State, Saturday Oct. 25, time TBD.

Week 10: vs Purdue, Sautrday Nov. 1, time TBD.

Week 11: BYE.

Week 12: at Northwestern, Saturday Nov. 15, time TBD.

Week 13: at Maryland, Saturday Nov. 22, time TBD.

Week 14: vs Ohio State, Saturday Nov. 29, noon ET (Fox).

Contact Matthew Auchincloss at mauchincloss@freepress.com.

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