www.fgks.org   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
Skip to contentSkip to site index

Michigan Flips Back to the Democrats

By Keith Collins, Ford Fessenden, Lazaro Gamio, Rich Harris, John Keefe, Denise Lu, Eleanor Lutz, Amy Schoenfeld Walker, Derek Watkins and Karen Yourish

Analyzing the vote in battleground states
Ariz. Fla. Ga. Mich. N.C. Pa. Texas Wis.
2016

+0.2 Trump

2020

+2.7 Biden

Current statewide margin

Increased turnout in Detroit and its wealthy suburbs as well as shrinking support for President Trump among middle-class voters helped to propel Joseph R. Biden Jr. to victory in Michigan, a historically Democratic Midwestern battleground.

DetroitGrand RapidsAnn Arbor
Shift from 2016
In counties that have reported almost all of their votes
More Democratic
More Republican

Mr. Biden gained support in most of the counties won by Hillary Clinton. And about two-thirds of the counties that voted for Mr. Trump in 2016 swung left in 2020.

Counties Clinton won in 2016

Counties Trump won in 2016

These predominantly white counties saw voters shift their support to Mr. Biden — even as Mr. Trump won most of them.

Shift in county margins from 2016

Share of population
that is white

+10D
0
+10R

More white

Less white

In fact, 11 counties that voted for Mr. Trump in 2016 moved more than five points to the left in 2020. These counties include Leelanau, a rural area that flipped to Mr. Biden, and Kent, once a Republican stronghold that Mr. Biden appeared poised to win.

Margin of victory in Michigan counties since 2008

Each line shows margins in one county over time