What Macomb County can teach us about American politics
B
ack when blue and red were
just Crayola colors to me, I
remember sitting around the
reading carpet at my elementary
school in Macomb County, Michigan,
as everyone went around and talked
about what their parents did for a
living. Almost everyone seemed to
have at least one parent who worked
for a car company. With my dad
working at Chrysler for nearly three
decades, I was proud to be a part of
something.
Although I moved away from
Macomb County years ago, I lived
at the Oakland-Macomb border and
had strong ties with friends and
family in my former area that gave
me reasons to be there frequently.
Up until high school, Macomb was
not much more than a place I called
home — full of memories in places
that I knew almost innately, like
recognizing my own reflection
in the mirror. But as I grew past
elementary and middle school, I
started to follow political trends.
Around the same time, I started
talking to my dad more about his
time working at Chrysler.
I stayed up late last year following
the 2020 elections, hearing national
news networks talk about Macomb
as a representation of the country’s
blue-collar workers in the 2016
election — typical blue voters who
turned red for the last election.
I heard phrases like “growing
disgruntled” and “feeling neglected”
by both parties.
Having grown up in Macomb, I
was surprised to hear this. I felt
that I had grown up in a relatively
diverse area, at least from all
perspectives that I was aware of as
a second-grader. Although I knew
my dad had his stresses about work,
it didn’t seem to be any more than
any other work stresses I had seen
in TV shows and movies. Nor did
my neighbors seem as if they were
disgruntled; but then again, 8-year-
old me wasn’t talking about politics
with my playmates’ parents. I was
curious how far the generalized
disillusionment spread.
But this sentiment dates back to
before 2020, even before 2016. Stanley
Greenberg’s 1995 book “Middle Class
Dreams” called Macomb “the site
of real drama in our political life”
because of its battleground status.
Between what the media was telling
me and what I knew from my family’s
personal experiences, I wanted to
dig deeper and see what was really
happening in Macomb.
Has the media exaggerated the
claims of political shifts in Macomb
County, or has the dominant ideology
really shifted significantly over
the years? Has the area become a
political microcosm of working-class
America?
* * *
My
mom
recently
sent
me
an article: “White angst keeps
Trumpism alive in Macomb County”.
This echoed the sentiments of the
national media headlines I had seen
before, but I wondered how recently
this “angst” started. The way I had
perceived Macomb County from
general media, I was expecting a
large shift for the Republicans in 2016
and 2020 compared to a history of
Democratic voting before that.
When I looked at election results,
I was surprised to find smaller
margins than I expected.
Trump had won with 53.6% of
the Macomb vote in 2016, whereas
Clinton had 42.1% of the vote.
However, there were still more
Democratic straight-party voters
— voters who chose all candidates
of one party on their ballot — than
Republican that year. The gap
slightly closed in 2020, with 53.4%
of the vote going to Trump and
45.3% going to Biden, but more
Republicans than Democrats voted
straight party this time.
I also looked back at voting data
and was surprised to see Republican
nominee Bush holding the majority
as recent as 2004, with his father
holding it in 1992. From media
portrayal, I had expected Macomb to
elect the Democrat candidate every
time except Reagan and Trump.
With this in the back of my mind, and
knowing the importance of the auto
industry to Macomb’s economy, I set
out to talk to Macomb auto workers
about what politics look like on the
plant floor.
* * *
Kevin McWilliams is a team leader
at the Chrysler plant in Macomb,
where he has worked since 2010.
Prior to that, he had worked at
Chrysler plants outside of Michigan
since 1995.
As a member of the United
Auto Workers (UAW) — one of the
largest unions in North America,
representing workers in a variety of
economic sectors — McWilliams felt
his and his coworkers’ voting was
occasionally influenced by who the
UAW endorses.
Thursday, May 20, 2021
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com STATEMENT
BY IULIA DOBRIN, STATEMENT CORRESPONDENT
Design by Brianna Manzor
Read more at michigandaily.com
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