Members of the United Auto Workers in Michigan told CNN Wednesday why former President Donald Trump is receiving support in the swing state, citing electric vehicle (EV) mandates and the economy.
Trump leads President Joe Biden by 0.3% in a head-to-head matchup in the state, according to the RealClearPolling average of polls taken from April 11 to June 3, with the two tied at 42.3% when independent candidates Cornel West and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Green Party candidate Jill Stein are included in surveys. CNN reporter John King talked with several autoworkers in Michigan during the segment.
“I’ve watched this region go from the arsenal of democracy, now, we’re happy if we can get a sports stadium or we‘re going to sell weed or fireworks or whatever, it‘s absolutely pathetic what we have sunk to now and our politicians just… they’re good with it, he isn’t, so that’s the difference,” autoworker Chris Vitale, who plans on defying the UAW’s endorsement of Biden to vote for Trump, told King.
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Vitale criticized Biden’s push for EVs. Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes a $7,500 tax credit for EVs into law in August 2022 and has pushed for the adoption of EVs, including the imposition of fuel-efficiency regulations for light and medium vehicles and heavy-duty vehicles.
“The government seems to be appeasing the coasts,” Vitale told King. “You know, everyone who lives in Manhattan, thinks everyone should drive an electric car.”
Former UAW President Bob King told the CNN reporter that conditions over the last ten years fueled support for Trump.
“People feel like the government and the establishment hasn’t been delivering for them,” the former UAW president said. “Is their life better now than it was ten years ago, or worse? For many working people, it’s worse. Their standard of living has deteriorated in some cases, their community has deteriorated.”
Walter Robinson, who still supports Biden, noted that even though he tried to convince Trump-supporting colleagues that Trump wasn’t able to identify with them because he wasn’t doing “physical work,” cultural issues and the economy drove at least 40% of his co-workers to back the presumptive GOP nominee.
“Gas prices are still pretty high,” Robinson told CNN’s King. “Food, when you go to the grocery store, every time it’s just me and my wife and it’s $200 every time I go to the grocery store.”
