Why Biden outperformed Harris throughout Metro Detroit
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Voters outside the Dearborn Christian Fellowship preschool on Tuesday. Photo: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
Across Metro Detroit, Vice President Harris received fewer votes than President Biden in 2020.
Why it matters: The results in Southeast Michigan, considered a Democratic stronghold, highlight a myriad of factors that contributed to President-elect Trump's victory.
The big picture: Trump received more votes in Tuesday's election than he did four years ago in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties.
By the numbers: Wayne County's support shifted from 68%-30% in favor of Biden to 62%-34% for Harris.
- In Oakland County, Biden won 56%-42% while Harris won 54%-44%.
- In Macomb County, Trump won 53%-45% in 2020 and 56%-42% this year.
Trump's performance improved for a variety of reasons, according to local elected officials and grassroots organizers.
The economy: Groceries, rent and just about everything else costs more now than it did four years ago. Such a harsh economic climate contributed to voters' desire for change, and Harris struggled to differentiate herself from Biden.
- "Trump had an economic story, even if flawed, while Harris' narrative was vague," Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of Our Revolution, said.
Inroads with Arab Americans: Trump won Dearborn, America's largest Arab American city, by 6 percentage points amid anger within the community over Biden and Harris' handling of the war in Gaza, the Detroit News reports.
Bias against Harris: "America is still sick as it relates to being stained with the ills of racism and sexism," Wayne County Commissioner Jonathan Kinloch tells Axios Detroit, explaining some voters' rejection of Harris.
Detroit's low turnout: The city's 47% turnout was a far cry from the 51%–55% that officials predicted, and it was the lowest in recent memory.
- The 49% turnout in 2016 was the previous low going back to 2008. Turnout figures in Detroit for 2004 and 2000 were not available yesterday.
- Harris carried the city by a wide spread, 90%-8%. But Trump's nearly 20,000 votes in the city were about 7,000 more than he got four years ago.
What they're saying: "I think what we have gathered (from talking to people at polls) is we have a disconnect happening," says Danielle Atkinson, executive director of Mothering Justice, a Detroit-based organization advocating for mothers of color that has expressed "deep concern" over Trump's re-election.
- Despite the former president's increased popularity, in a recent survey of 1,000 U.S. mothers, the organization found that rhetoric in conservative blueprint Project 2025 around cutting social programs didn't resonate with the mothers.
- "This is a mandate for us to get back to talking to people and really having conversations that interrupt this narrative that in order to have a successful economy, we have to have policies that are harmful to working and low-wage individuals," Atkinson says.
Go deeper: "Big red shock: Takeaways from Trump's election night romp"