Confusing polls show voters in Michigan much prefer Harris’s policies — but not Harris herself

Democratic candidates Kamala Harris and Tim Walz have made their joint debut this week, with a whirlwind schedule campaigning through battleground states.

Harris and Walz have already stopped in Philadelphia, Wisconsin, and Michigan, and will soon hold events in Arizona and Nevada. They are speaking at a union event in Detroit later on Thursday for the United Auto Workers group.

The auto unions have been a key bastion of support for President Joe Biden, who even went so far as to join the picket line with members in solidarity in September of last year. Though Harris has not yet had the opportunity to build a strong relationship with union groups, the UAW formally backed her campaign last week.

Shawn Fain, leader of the UAW, recently expressed his disdain for Donald Trump and the Republican campaign, telling the Associated Press: “Trump has never supported working class people. He has never supported unions. But he sure as hell was trying to pander for our votes now.”

The current polls show a tight race between Trump and Harris. Each has shown small margins in different Michigan polls, underlining how close the race really is in this key battleground state.

Formerly a Republican stronghold, Michigan turned blue in the 90s, but has mostly been won by a few percentage points since then.

In 2016, Donald Trump won by just 0.2% of the statewide vote. And in 2020, Biden flipped the state blue by 2.8%.

Although Biden won in 2020, the state has a strong Trump support base throughout its majority rural landmass, particularly in Northern Michigan, where some counties voted for Trump by over 71%.

The Harris campaign has been trying to pivot towards a strategy which will mobilize more white, working-class people, previous