Former President Donald Trump is making a trip to Potterville, Michigan, on Thursday, his third trip to the battleground state in the past nine days.
Trump lost Michigan by three percent of the vote in 2020, after winning the state by a narrow margin in 2016. Both he and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, are prioritizing Michigan on the campaign trail, and focusing on undecided voters.
“I’m torn in between. I honestly am,” one Michigan resident, LaQuan Jones, told Spectrum News.
“I’m not undecided,” another, Patricia Westbrook, explained. “I’ve already decided there’s not one person I’d vote for.”
According to Ballotpedia, more than 32 million people are registered Independent or unaffiliated across the 30 states that track political party affiliations.
A Gallup poll from 2023 found that 43 percent of adults identify as independent, up from 41 percent in 2022.
In Michigan, a Detroiter Magazine poll from last year found 20 percent of Michigan voters don’t side with either party.
Ohio Sen. JD Vance, Trump’s vice presidential running mate, campaigned in Big Rapids, Michigan, on Tuesday.
Some devout Trump supporters in attendance acknowledged to Spectrum News that the race has changed since President Joe Biden passed the torch to Harris.
“I do think that now that she’s running, people are a little more torn on who they’re going to vote for,” said Michigan resident Ashley Soller.
Pete Hoekstra, chair of the Michigan GOP, said Trump can still win over undecided voters on the issues of the economy and immigration.
“I think over the last 70 days of this campaign, we’ll be able to influence five to seven percent of the voters,” he said in an interview.
Other Michigan voters have changed their party affiliation over the last few years. Voter Michael McGarry from Grand Rapids once voted for Trump, but now has Harris signs in his yard.
“I made a mistake in 2016 and voted for Trump and gave him a chance,” McGarry said. “I regretted that within six months of his presidency.”
Some undecided voters are part of Michigan’s prominent Arab-American community. Many were among the 100,000 voters who chose ‘uncommitted’ in February’s Democratic primary, in protest of Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
Nearly 90,000 voters signed a letter urging Harris to shift away from Biden’s policy in order to get their support.
Other undecided voters say their indecision is issue-based.
“It’s the abortion thing that’s getting me,” Jones said. “She’s for abortion, Donald Trump is not for abortion, God is not for abortion. So I’m just, like, torn in between.”
Still, other voters say they’re frustrated by the choice of candidates.
“I don’t seem like I reap any benefits for voting for someone that’s not helping me,” another Michigan resident, Earl Lewis, said.
University of Michigan Professor Emeritus Michael Traugott says the pool of undecided voters in Michigan is shrinking. He points to Democrats who were worried about Biden’s age, but are no longer on the fence now that Harris has replaced him. He says both campaigns need to ensure that voters who finally decide whom to support actually turn out to vote.
“It seems as though the Harris-Walz campaign is better organized for a ground game than the Trump campaign,” he said. “They have more offices opened and they have more volunteers lined up.”
While the Trump campaign is targeting Black voters and union members in Michigan, the Harris campaign is trying to energize younger voters and suburban women. Both camps are also aiming to win over undecided voters.