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November 07, 2018 - Image 12

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The Michigan Daily

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Charting the politics
of Michigan

Design by Willa Hua | Analysis by Robert Lesser | Written by Brian Kuang

An election is nothing more than a snapshot of the electorate at a given time. Nevertheless,
the results of the 2018 midterm elections in Michigan help form a wider story of the shifting
political sands of the state and the nation. To help conceptualize today’s election results, the
Statement Magazine has charted out how Michigan’s political map has shifted in three pivotal
elections and how control of local and statewide offices has changed beginning in 2000.

The Obama Coalition

Though Republicans had early hope for contesting
Michigan, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., ultimately
had a decisive win in the state, beating Sen.
John McCain, R-Ariz, by nearly 17 percentage
points. In his victory, Obama carried not only
historically Democratic areas, but also swept many
predominantly white, working-class areas in rural
and Upper Peninsula counties. The turnout of
the voting age population for the election was 66
percent — almost four percent higher than the
national rate and eight percent higher than 2000.

Republican businessman Donald Trump took the
nation by surprise by narrowly winning many
Midwestern states, including Michigan where
he beat former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
by 11,000 votes out of 4.8 million votes that
were cast in the state. Trump’s victory was built
on flipping historically Democratic industrial
strongholds in regions such as Macomb, Saginaw
and Bay counties — many of which had voted for
Obama only recently — and relatively weak voter
enthusiasm in Detroit. Clinton had a relatively
strong showing in upscale and educated areas
such as Ann Arbor, but this was not enough
to overcome Democrats’ historically weak
performance in Michigan’s rural areas.

Bush v. Gore

Amid a close national race where Texas Gov.
George W. Bush ultimately prevailed, Vice
President Al Gore edged out Bush in Michigan by
five percentage points. Gore’s victory in the state
was powered by strong margins out of Detroit,
and traditionally-Democratic industrial and rural
areas largely on the east side of the state, including
Macomb County. On the same night U.S. Rep.
Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., beat incumbent Sen.
Spencer Abraham, R-Mich., for Michigan’s Senate
seat by two percentage points in a much closer
race. Democrats retained control over Michigan’s
seats in the House — holding 10 out of 16 seats.

2000
2008
2016

A brief history of party control in Michigan

While Democrats historically dominated top ballot in Michigan, statewide offices have often been a tossup

*Color intensity is coded on each candidate or party’s margin in Michigan for the most recent election year on timeline



**Timeline year indicates year in which election takes place, rather than year where office is held






***Source: Michigan Secretary of State

Shattering the Obama Coalition

Wednesday, November 7, 2018 // The Statement
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Wednesday, November 7, 2018// The Statement

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