donald trump turned red michigan in the 2024 presidential election, defeating Kamala Harris there and paving his way back to the White House.

one of the most hotly contested swing statesMichigan was considered a determining factor in the outcome of the election.

Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., said Michiganders wondered Ronald Reagan’s famous question: “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”

“The gains made in non-traditional Republican areas and constituencies are enormous,” Huizenga said. The daily signal of Michigan results.

At the end of the day, Democrats had a deeply flawed candidate in Harris, President Joe Biden’s vice president, said Steve Mitchell, a michigan pollster who is president of Mitchell Research & Communications Inc.

“If you look objectively at where the United States was for four years under Trump in terms of foreign affairs, in terms of domestic affairs, in terms of cost of living, it was better under President Trump than it was under President Biden,” Mitchell said. The Daily Signal, “this is why President Trump was re-elected.”

Here are three big reasons why Trump won Michigan by 95,000 votes in his victory in the three “Blue Wall” states for Democrats, which also include Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

Trump gained 35,000 more votes in two key counties

To win Michigan, Trump needed to perform better in two swing counties, Kent and Oakland. Harris ultimately triumphed in liberal Michigan counties, but Trump got 30,000 more votes in Oakland County than in 2020 and 5,000 more votes in Kent County.

Oakland and Kent counties have experienced significant demographic changes over the past two decades. Both used to be Republican strongholds, but growth in suburban Detroit and the city of Grand Rapids moved the counties from red to blue in 2020.

About a third of Trump’s 95,000-vote margin in Michigan came from doing better in Kent and Oakland than he did when he barely won the state in 2016 over Hillary Clinton, 47.6% to 47.4%.

“This is just the second time a Republican has won Michigan since 1988,” Mitchell said, referring to Trump’s victory in 2016. “The first time it was by about 10,000 votes, and this time it’s by almost 100,000 votes. “That is why it is a significant victory.”

Mitchell, who is not related to this correspondent, had predicted that if Trump did well in Kent and Oakland, he would win Michigan.

“If they are very supportive of Harris, then it probably bodes well for Harris,” Mitchell told The Daily Signal before the election. “If, on the other hand, for some reason it’s two or three points in Kent County and maybe six or eight points in Oakland County for Harris, then Harris is probably going to lose.”

Huizenga said Trump was able to achieve a victory of this scale through hard work and staying on message.

“I think that’s a testament to staying on message and Kamala Harris being, let’s say, a relatable, unqualified candidate,” the West Michigan congressman said.

Although some Republicans were hesitant to support Trump in 2020, Huizenga said he noticed people were more willing to publicly support the former president this year.

“The prosecutions, all the harassment, the legal war that went on under Trump, brought some of those errant Republican votes back into the fold,” he said.

Harris did not have a great performance with racial minorities

Trump gained two percentage points with black Michiganders to win 9% of the black vote, compared to 7% in 2020.

“He has clearly done something that no Republican candidate has done,” Mitchell said, “and that is motivate African Americans to vote for a Republican candidate.”

Minorities in Michigan saw their “purchasing power” decline during the Biden-Harris administration, Huizenga said.

“They’re looking at the cost of food, the cost of running a small business, the cost of going to the gas pump,” the Michigan Republican said. “They felt the impact, and I think that’s why that message that was there, even on the border, ties into a law and order narrative that has clearly gotten out of control under the Biden-Harris administration.”

“I think Trump stayed true to the economic message,” Huizenga continued, “as well as the message of safety and security. And here in Michigan, the only thing Democrats wanted to talk about was abortion.”

Because Democrats were so focused on abortion, which is already legal up to birth in Michigan, they didn’t sufficiently address the economy, foreign policy, energy policy and other issues that really affect Michiganders, Huizenga said.

“Donald Trump has become a kind of counterculture,” he said, “and I think that has a certain appeal.”

Mitchell said Democrats lost some of the minority vote because of illegal immigration.

“Illegal immigrants were taking jobs that many African Americans could have gotten otherwise,” the pollster said, “and I think they were fed up with the Biden-Harris administration for allowing these incredible numbers of immigrants into the country. And that door will be slammed shut by the Trump administration.”

Harris did not appeal to Michigan believers

This time, Trump won 20 percentage points among Michigan Catholics, according to Fox News exit polls.

Huizenga said he has seen this realignment of the party with Irish Catholics in his own family in Michigan. He attributes this to Democrats’ positions on social issues, abortion and the economy.

“They are small business owners, they are union members, they are firefighters and police officers,” Huizenga said of the Catholic vote. “It doesn’t surprise me that people of faith have felt like Democrats abandoned them a long time ago, and in fact the situation has gotten so bad that they feel rejected.”

In mid-October, Harris did not attend the Al Smith Dinner, an annual fundraising event for Catholic charities traditionally attended by presidential candidates. Many older Catholics saw that as a slap in the face, Mitchell said.

“Basically, with his actions he gave Donald Trump a direct path to the Catholic vote,” the pollster said.

The former president also had a net gain of 16,000 votes in Dearborn, the largest concentration of Muslim Americans in the nation.

The Biden-Harris administration attempted to play both sides in the war between Israel and Hamas, losing both Jewish and Muslim support, Mitchell argued.

“I think what they recognized is that (Trump) will resolve a war immediately and (Israel) will stop killing Arabs, and that’s what they want, and they weren’t getting it,” Mitchell said of Muslims.