WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:63000 1 00:00:00.660 --> 00:00:01.830 Hey, this is Todd Spangler, 2 00:00:02.010 --> 00:00:05.610 the Washington correspondent with the Detroit free press. It is Friday, 3 00:00:05.730 --> 00:00:10.560 September 25th, and I thought I would go over where the polls stand in Michigan, 4 00:00:10.950 --> 00:00:15.780 a little more than five weeks before the general election, as everybody knows, 5 00:00:15.780 --> 00:00:18.450 Michigan was the closest state, uh, 6 00:00:18.450 --> 00:00:22.230 won by president Trump over Hillary Clinton in 2016. Uh, 7 00:00:22.260 --> 00:00:27.060 he won by about two tenths of a percentage point or less than 11,000 votes 8 00:00:27.090 --> 00:00:31.260 statewide. Right now, the polls show democratic nominee, 9 00:00:31.290 --> 00:00:32.880 former vice president, Joe Biden, 10 00:00:33.270 --> 00:00:36.570 still with a pretty healthy lead of our last poll, 11 00:00:36.570 --> 00:00:40.110 showed him at about eight points ahead of, uh, 12 00:00:40.140 --> 00:00:43.650 the president in Michigan overall. Uh, 13 00:00:43.860 --> 00:00:47.280 the real clear politics.com average, which averages out polls, 14 00:00:47.280 --> 00:00:48.660 giving weight to more recent ones, 15 00:00:49.170 --> 00:00:53.970 shows a Biden with a lead of about five percentage points overall, 16 00:00:54.780 --> 00:00:56.610 uh, in Michigan and, and frankly, 17 00:00:56.640 --> 00:01:00.510 most of the polls have been taken recently show Biden, 18 00:01:00.510 --> 00:01:05.160 the Democrat with a lead of somewhere between five and eight points over 19 00:01:05.160 --> 00:01:09.120 president Trump in Michigan that said president is still campaigning in 20 00:01:09.120 --> 00:01:09.450 Michigan. 21 00:01:09.450 --> 00:01:13.710 He was recently at an airport near Saginaw hall where he had a big rally. Um, 22 00:01:13.740 --> 00:01:17.910 he is back up on the air in Michigan spending money, trying to target, uh, 23 00:01:17.940 --> 00:01:22.800 Biden's previous votes for NAFTA and other issues trying to narrow that 24 00:01:22.860 --> 00:01:25.310 we expect that effort to continue. And we expect the, the, 25 00:01:25.310 --> 00:01:29.670 the polling probably the narrow between now and the election right now though 26 00:01:30.510 --> 00:01:32.820 Biden does seem to have a pretty solid lead. 27 00:01:33.060 --> 00:01:35.940 It is at eight points that is down from where it was in the summer in the summer 28 00:01:36.240 --> 00:01:40.200 at the height of the protests, um, in Washington and elsewhere, 29 00:01:40.230 --> 00:01:44.100 including in Detroit, um, by black lives matter protesters, uh, 30 00:01:44.190 --> 00:01:46.410 protesting against police brutality against people of color. 31 00:01:46.740 --> 00:01:50.880 That number had ballooned to in some polls as large as 16. 32 00:01:51.330 --> 00:01:53.790 Um, it's well down from that, 33 00:01:53.850 --> 00:01:56.430 as some voters have moved off of Biden, 34 00:01:56.430 --> 00:02:00.420 some have moved into the undecided category or moved on to third party 35 00:02:00.420 --> 00:02:01.253 candidates. 36 00:02:02.430 --> 00:02:06.780 Those polls generally have not shown president Trump gaining in 37 00:02:07.020 --> 00:02:08.130 percentages. Um, 38 00:02:08.160 --> 00:02:12.390 so right now it looks like the president is still underwater in the polls in 39 00:02:12.390 --> 00:02:15.900 Michigan four years ago. At this point, 40 00:02:16.380 --> 00:02:20.250 he was trailing Hillary Clinton by about four points. Um, 41 00:02:20.280 --> 00:02:24.690 that gap in the polls grew with Clinton building a lead and then shrunk back 42 00:02:24.690 --> 00:02:29.400 again just before the election to where Clinton was ahead by about four points 43 00:02:29.400 --> 00:02:34.290 going into election day. As I already said, Trump did end up narrowing that, 44 00:02:34.380 --> 00:02:36.510 bringing it down to two tenths of a percentage point. 45 00:02:36.510 --> 00:02:40.620 It was essentially a tie he won by 10,704 votes. 46 00:02:41.220 --> 00:02:44.100 And so this could continue to narrow, 47 00:02:44.250 --> 00:02:46.110 but right now that's the state of the race.