Biden struggling in Michigan, Democrats warn, as level of concern grows: 'The problem is the man'
'The problem is not policy. The problem is the man,' one Democratic strategist said
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Michigan Democrats are sounding the alarm on President Biden's chances in the state, as polls continue to show him trailing Donald Trump.
"The level of concern is growing, and it should be," Adrian Hemond, a Democratic strategist based in Michigan, told the Wall Street Journal. "The problem is not policy. The problem is the man."
Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich., said he spoke to Biden recently and encouraged the president to visit the state because "it's not where it should be."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Biden's support for Israel has also caused tension in the state, which has a large community of Arab-Americans, especially in Dearborn, Michigan.
President Biden speaks in the State Dining Room of the White House with Vice President Kamala Harris and Antony Blinken, secretary of state, right, on Oct. 10, 2023. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"It’s costing him here in Michigan," David Haener, a Democrat from New Boston, Michigan, told the media outlet. "I wish he would see that he’s leaving a huge demographic behind."
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Younger voters seem frustrated with the federal government in general and cite a lack of progress on voting rights legislation and student loans, according to the Wall Street Journal.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"The frustration is just anti the whole system. It almost feels like we’re coming to a breaking point in democracy where people just don’t even think it works anymore," Rev. Charles Williams II, the pastor of King Solomon Baptist Church in Detroit, told the WSJ. "They don’t see no hope in Donald Trump, they don’t see no hope in Joe Biden."
A December poll found voters were very unenthusiastic about the president.
President Biden during a news conference with Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Ukraine's president, at the White House complex, on Dec. 12, 2023. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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Just 27% of Democrats in the Great Lake State say they are "enthusiastic" for Biden as their party's presidential nominee, according to the Washington Post-Monmouth poll.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Approximately 51% of Democratic voters in the state say they would be "satisfied" with Biden as the Democratic nominee, and 19% say they would be "dissatisfied" or "upset."
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a caucus site at Horizon Events Center, in Clive, Iowa, Monday, Jan. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
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The Biden campaign has focused on abortion in the state of Michigan after voters passed a measure in 2022 protecting abortion rights.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}However, Nicole Wells Stallworth, a former Planned Parenthood leader in the state, told the Wall Street Journal that she is concerned about momentum dropping off.
"Attention span is a real thing," she told the outlet.