How Michigan explains American politics

Summary

The video script explores the political shifts in Michigan, once a stalwart of the Democratic 'blue wall,' which was shattered when Donald Trump won the state in 2016. It delves into the factors behind this surprise victory, including the impact of redistricting, economic changes, racial tensions, and the decline in manufacturing jobs. The narrative then shifts to the state's return to blue with the election of a Democratic governor in 2018 and Joe Biden's victory in 2020. The script highlights the significant role of white women voters, the influence of college-educated voters, and the effects of Trump's policies and controversies on voter behavior. It also discusses the 2022 midterms, the passage of anti-gerrymandering measures, and the response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. The video concludes by emphasizing Michigan as a microcosm of national political trends, with its demographic and political shifts reflecting broader changes across the United States.

Takeaways

• 🔵 The term 'blue wall' refers to 18 states and Washington, DC, which consistently voted for Democratic presidential candidates starting from 1992 until Donald Trump's victory in 2016.
• 🏛️ In 2016, Donald Trump won three traditionally Democratic states - Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan - by focusing on trade, manufacturing, and stoking racial resentment.
• 📊 Despite Michigan's long history of voting for Democrats, it had a Republican governor and legislature by 2016, which had enacted policies undermining unions, restricting abortion, and loosening environmental protections.
• 🗳️ Michigan's shift towards the Republican party in 2016 was not entirely unexpected, as the state had already seen a rightward political shift at the state level prior to the presidential election.
• 📈 The 2018 and 2020 elections saw a swing back towards the Democrats in Michigan, with Joe Biden winning the state in the latter year.
• 🏙️ Macomb County, a traditionally Democratic area, shifted towards Trump in 2016 due to his focus on manufacturing job losses and racial tensions.
• 📉 Detroit's lower voter turnout in 2016 and Trump's rhetoric may have contributed to reduced support for Democrats among African American communities.
• 🚨 The role of white women in Michigan's political shift cannot be understated; they shifted their support towards Democrats after 2016, significantly impacting election outcomes.
• 🏛️ Redistricting played a significant role in Michigan's political landscape, with the 2012 redistricting favoring Republicans, which was later corrected by an independent commission.
• 📊 The 2022 midterm election in Michigan saw a complete sweep for Democrats, with the party winning every elected branch of the state government for the first time in 40 years.
• 🌐 Michigan's political shifts reflect broader national trends, including the increasing Democratic lean among college-educated voters and the impact of issues like abortion rights and election integrity on voter behavior.

Q & A

What was the term used to describe the 18 states and Washington, DC, known for consistently voting for Democratic presidents?

The term used was 'the blue wall.'

In which year did Donald Trump break the blue wall?

Donald Trump broke the blue wall in the 2016 presidential election.

Which three states did Donald Trump win that were traditionally part of the blue wall?

Donald Trump won Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan.

What was significant about Michigan's political landscape by 2016, despite its long history of voting for Democrats?

By 2016, Michigan had a Republican governor and a Republican legislature, and had been so for some time.

What was the impact of the Republican state government's actions during the 2010s on Michigan's political landscape?

The Republican state government undermined unions, restricted abortion, and loosened environmental protections.

How did the redistricting in 2011 influence the political representation in Michigan?

The redistricting in 2011 allowed Republicans to skew the political districts in their favor, leading to a majority of seats in the state House of Representatives despite winning only about 46% of the vote.

What demographic shift contributed to the change in political voting patterns in Michigan after 2016?

There was a significant shift among white women voters in Michigan towards the Democratic party after 2016.

What was the role of the anti-gerrymandering proposal (Proposal 2) in the 2018 election and its impact on the 2022 election?

Proposal 2, passed in 2018, took redistricting out of the legislature's hands and gave it to an independent commission. The new maps in effect for the 2022 election allowed for a more balanced representation, with Democrats winning 56 out of 110 seats.

What was the political response in Michigan to the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022?

Activists in Michigan responded by putting Proposal 3 on the ballot in 2022, which would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. The measure passed by more than ten percentage points.

How did the Michigan Republican Party's focus on election fraud and the nomination of Kristina Karamo as party leader impact the 2022 election?

The focus on election fraud and the nomination of Kristina Karamo, who supported overturning the 2020 election, led to significant losses for Republicans in the 2022 election, with both Dixon and Karamo losing by more than ten percentage points.

What is the significance of Michigan's political shifts and how do they reflect national trends?

Michigan's political shifts, particularly the redistricting battles and the changing voting patterns among different demographic groups, are indicative of broader national trends. The state's close alignment with the national average in terms of voting patterns makes it a microcosm of the United States as a whole.

Outlines

00:00

🔵 The Transformation of Michigan's 'Blue Wall'

This paragraph discusses the historical political leaning of Michigan and its role in the so-called 'blue wall' of states that consistently voted for Democratic presidential candidates. It details how Donald Trump's victory in 2016 shattered this pattern, particularly by winning Michigan, which was a surprise due to its long-standing Democratic tendencies at the federal level, despite having a Republican governor and legislature. The paragraph also explores the state's shift back to a more Democratic stance by the 2020 election and the swift actions taken by the new blue government to reverse previous Republican legislation and invest in clean energy. It sets the stage for examining the political swings in Michigan and their implications for the US.

05:03

🗺️ The Impact of Gerrymandering and Demographic Shifts

This section delves into the narrow margin by which Trump won Michigan in 2016 and explores various factors that contributed to this outcome. It highlights the significance of Macomb County, which traditionally voted Democratic but swung towards Trump, likely due to his focus on trade and manufacturing job losses. The paragraph also discusses the racial dynamics at play in Wayne County, particularly the city of Detroit, and how lower turnout and Trump's rhetoric may have influenced the election. It further examines the role of gerrymandering in the state's political landscape, showing how Republican control over redistricting led to a skewed representation in the state House of Representatives, despite not winning the majority of votes.

10:03

📊 Shifts in Voting Patterns and the Role of White Women

The paragraph examines the shift in voting patterns among white women in Michigan, who moved from favoring Republicans to Democrats following the 2016 election. It suggests that broader political and social movements, such as the Women's March, may have influenced this change. The focus then turns to Oakland County, where white women and wealthy, well-educated voters played a significant role in the Democratic victories of 2018 and 2020. The paragraph also discusses the backlash against Trump's policies among college-educated voters and the unprecedented voter turnout in Oakland County during the midterm elections.

15:03

🏛️ Redistricting Reform and the 2022 Election Outcome

This paragraph discusses the 2022 election in Michigan, where Democrats won control of the state government and the passage of Proposal 2, an anti-gerrymandering measure that reformed the redistricting process. It outlines how the new district lines allowed for a more equitable representation, with Democrats winning a majority of seats in the state House of Representatives. The paragraph also addresses the national implications of the 2022 election, with the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the Republican focus on election fraud playing significant roles in shaping voter behavior. It concludes by emphasizing Michigan's status as a microcosm of the broader US political landscape, with its demographic and political shifts reflecting national trends.

Keywords

💡Blue Wall

The term 'Blue Wall' refers to a group of states, along with Washington, D.C., that traditionally voted for the Democratic candidate in U.S. presidential elections. In the context of the video, it highlights the historical political leaning of these states and their significance in the 2016 election when Donald Trump won some of these states, marking a shift in the political landscape.

💡Redistricting

Redistricting is the process of redrawing electoral district boundaries, often done to reflect changes in population. In the video, it is presented as a key factor that allowed Republicans to maintain control of Michigan's state House of Representatives despite not winning a majority of the statewide vote, by creating districts that favored their party.

💡Gerrymandering

Gerrymandering is a practice intended to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating district boundaries. The video explains how gerrymandering was used in Michigan to give Republicans a disproportionate advantage in the state's House of Representatives, even when they won a minority of the votes.

💡Swing State

A 'Swing State' is a state in the U.S. whose electoral votes for the presidency could be won by either the Democratic or Republican candidate, making it highly competitive. The video discusses Michigan as a quintessential swing state, emphasizing its role in national elections and the shifts in political support.

💡Right-to-Work Legislation

Right-to-Work laws are statutes that allow employees to work in unionized workplaces without being required to join the union or pay dues. The video mentions that Michigan's Republican state government passed such legislation, which is a significant policy shift and a point of contention between the parties.

💡Abortion Rights

Abortion rights refer to the legal entitlement to have an abortion. The video discusses how the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 led to a ballot measure in Michigan, Proposal 3, which sought to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution, highlighting the issue's importance in state politics.

💡White Working Class

The term 'White Working Class' describes a demographic group consisting of white individuals who are employed in manual or industrial labor. The video uses Macomb County as an example to illustrate how this demographic shifted its support towards Trump in 2016, influenced by issues such as trade and manufacturing job losses.

💡Racial Resentment

Racial resentment refers to negative feelings or hostility towards members of a particular racial group, often stemming from perceived social or economic threats. The video suggests that Trump's campaign stoked racial resentment in Macomb County, contributing to his victory there.

💡Turnout

Turnout in an election refers to the number of eligible voters who actually vote. The video discusses how lower turnout in Detroit, a predominantly African American city with a high Democratic vote share, may have contributed to Trump's narrow victory in Michigan in 2016.

💡College-Educated Voters

College-educated voters are those who have completed a degree at a college or university. The video shows a trend of college-educated voters in Michigan increasingly voting for Democrats, which is indicative of a broader national shift in party support among this demographic.

💡Independent Redistricting Commission

An Independent Redistricting Commission is a non-partisan body responsible for redistricting without influence from political parties. The video explains that Michigan voters approved an anti-gerrymandering measure that created such a commission, leading to more balanced electoral maps in the state.

Highlights

The 'blue wall' refers to 18 states and Washington, DC, known for consistently voting for Democratic presidents since 1992.

Donald Trump won the 2016 election by breaking the blue wall, particularly by winning Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan.

Despite a history of voting blue, by 2016 Michigan had a Republican governor and legislature, reflecting a more complex political landscape.

During the 2010s, Michigan's Republican state government undermined unions, restricted abortion, and loosened environmental protections.

Trump's victory in Michigan was not unexpected, given the state's political shifts prior to the 2016 election.

In 2018, Michigan elected a Democratic governor, and in 2020, it voted for Joe Biden, indicating a return to its blue roots.

The 2022 midterm election saw Democrats win every branch of Michigan's state government for the first time in 40 years.

Michigan's new blue government acted swiftly to repeal right-to-work laws, expand anti-discrimination laws, and invest in clean energy.

Political scientists and data suggest that Michigan's swings in political color may be indicative of broader trends in the US.

The 2010 election resulted in Republicans gaining control of Michigan, which had significant implications for redistricting in 2011.

Gerrymandering allowed Republicans to maintain a majority in Michigan's House of Representatives despite not winning a majority of votes.

The close margin of Trump's victory in Michigan in 2016 suggests a multitude of contributing factors.

Macomb County, traditionally Democratic and white working class, shifted dramatically towards Trump in 2016, influenced by trade and manufacturing job losses.

Detroit's consistent Democratic voting patterns were impacted by lower turnout in the 2016 election, potentially influenced by Trump's rhetoric.

White women in Michigan shifted their voting patterns towards Democrats following the 2016 election, influenced by social and political movements.

Oakland County, once a Republican stronghold, saw a significant shift in voting patterns among wealthy, well-educated voters towards the Democratic Party.

The 2022 election in Michigan was influenced by the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the Republican Party's focus on election fraud allegations.

Michigan's political shifts reflect broader trends in the US, with party coalitions changing and national issues impacting state-level elections.

Michigan's political landscape serves as a microcosm for the US, with its close alignment to national voting patterns.

Transcripts

These 18 states,

along with Washington, DC,

for a long time, were known as “the blue wall.”

And we called it that because,

starting in 1992,

each one of those places voted for a Democrat for president,

again, and again, and again,

and, well actually--

“The blue wall, right?!”

In 2016, Donald Trump won by breaking the blue wall.

“We didn't break it, we shattered that sucker.”

And the way he shattered that sucker

is that he won three blue wall states:

Pennsylvania, Wisconsin,

and, just barely, and in maybe the biggest surprise:

Michigan.

“Michigan, a state that was supposed to be a lock for Hillary Clinton.”

“Michigan has been blue for a long time.”

“Michigan, isn't that one of the pillars of the infamous blue wall?”

But here's something that people missed about “blue wall” Michigan.

Even though Michigan had consistently voted

for Democrats for president over the years,

it wasn't as blue as it looked.

By 2016,

Michigan already had a Republican governor and a Republican legislature,

and it had been that way for some time.

During the 2010s,

that Republican state government had undermined unions...

“so-called right-to-work legislation”

...restricted abortion...

“The bill is passed.”

...loosened environmental protections...

“Controversy surrounding this oil refinery.”

So Trump winning Michigan didn't really come out of nowhere.

But then, in 2018,

Michigan elected a Democrat as governor.

In 2020, it voted for Joe Biden over Trump.

And in 2022, in a midterm election

that was expected to be a red wave,

Democrats won every elected branch of Michigan's state government --

for the first time in 40 years.

So now Michigan was blue...

again, I guess.

And its new blue government got to work fast:

repealing some of the Republicans’ signature legislation...

“The first state to repeal a right-to-work law in decades.”

...expanding anti-discrimination laws...

“The bill is passed.”

...and pouring money into the state's transition to clean energy.

“Michigan, a national leader in the fight against climate change.”

In this video, we're going to ask why Michigan went so red, and then so blue.

What do political scientists say, what does the data say...

Because, maybe Michigan is just a swing state,

and this is what it looks like when a swing state swings.

But the forces pushing these swings

tell us a lot about the US right now - and about our next election.

So let's go back to this timeline of big Michigan elections,

and we'll start here.

In 2008.

Michigan voted for Barack Obama for president,

and for a Democratic state House of Representatives.

But the next election would turn out differently.

2010 is really a response to 2008.

We see a blowback to Obama's national policies.

In 2010, Republicans won control of the whole state.

And the reason that matters is because the next year, 2011,

was a redistricting year.

Which means Michigan Republicans were in charge of redrawing these:

Maps of the state's political districts.

Maps that can favor one party or another, depending

on which voters they draw into which districts.

The new maps they drew looked like this.

And as you can see:

well...

it's kind of hard to tell, actually.

If you just sort of look at the map, it doesn't look too gerrymandered.

But once those maps took effect, in the 2012 election,

the impact was clear.

Let's just look at these.

The state House of Representatives districts.

If you added up the votes across all of these districts in 2012,

Republicans only won about 46% of that vote,

but they ended up with 59 out of 110 seats,

which was a majority.

Meaning, they had successfully skewed this map in their favor.

And for the rest of the decade, Michigan Republicans

actually never won a majority of the statewide vote

for the House of Representatives, but they always won a majority of its seats.

Which kind of tells us something about this whole period.

Redistricting explains the whole thing.

If not for Republican complete control of redistricting in 2012,

Michigan would look a lot different,

throughout the whole decade and even into today.

So Michigan wasn't as red as it looked either.

But redistricting doesn't actually explain everything.

For example, 2016,

which is when Michigan, the whole state,

broke the blue wall.

So what was going on there?

This chart looks at how close the vote was in every state

in the 2016 presidential election.

And Michigan is all the way at the end over here,

the closest state in 2016,

voting for Trump by a margin of 0.23%.

When it's such a close margin, we could find

a dozen different reasons.

That's true, lot of factors here.

Let's just start with one or two of them.

This is a map of all the counties in Michigan.

There are 83 of them,

and on the map, a lot of them are geographically the same size.

But if you were to resize each county

according to how many voters there are in each one,

that would look more like this.

As you might be able to tell,

these three counties alone

make up a huge part of the state's population.

So the way that they vote matters a ton.

So let's start here:

in Macomb County.

“Macomb County, just north of Detroit.”

Traditionally Democratic, overwhelmingly white.”

“Historically home to autoworkers, union members...”

“Between 2000 and 2010, half of the manufacturing jobs in Macomb vanished.”

Demographically, Macomb is very...

white working class.

Before 2016, Macomb was a bellwether.

A bellwether - meaning it voted kind of like the rest of the country.

So, this chart shows how Macomb County voted

for president in the years before 2016.

These are years that voted for the Democrat for president,

this is when it voted for the Republican,

and the height is the margin of victory.

And now let's do the thing where we add

how the whole US voted each year.

And notice how closely Macomb always matches the country as a whole.

A bellwether.

Until...

2016.

2016 changes all that,

and it can come down to one word, and that's Trump.

“God bless you, Michigan.

God bless you.”

He just shifts things dramatically in Macomb County.

Focused on trade, manufacturing...

“Michigan has lost one in four manufacturing jobs.”

“This area is a manufacturing area.

A lot of people are affected by losing their jobs.”

“We will stop the jobs from leaving Michigan.”

“Job creation. Not doing all our jobs offshore.”

“We're going to bring a lot of industry back to our country”

“The opportunity to earn a living and take care of our families.

Put us all to work.”

Talking about car jobs

is one way that Trump takes Macomb from this to this.

But...

it's not the only way.

We're seeing Trump stoke racial resentment,

which has, in Macomb, always been, sort of, unfortunate to say, popular.

“Look at the city of Detroit.

Nearly half of Detroit residents do not work.”

OK, that's not true,

incidentally, unless your data includes children and the elderly.

But while we're here,

let's talk about Detroit,

which is right next door to Macomb County,

in Wayne County.

The city of Detroit is about 78% black,

and it typically votes between 93% and 98% Democratic.

And in a place with such consistent voting patterns,

it really helps to look at turnout.

Politically speaking, when Detroit shows up,

it's hard for Republicans

to be able to win the state.

This chart shows how many people voted in Detroit

in different elections over the years.

You can see that turnout in presidential elections

is typically higher than turnout in midterm elections,

and that's true pretty much everywhere.

But look at the turnout in 2016.

It's almost as low as, for example,

the midterm election of 2006.

Now, two things are happening here.

Detroit is getting smaller during this time.

Its population is shrinking, so fewer voters.

But Trump had a role here, too.

“Look how much African American communities

have suffered under Democratic control.”

The thing that I think Trump did effectively

as far as interacting with African American voters

is not getting them to become Republicans

or switch their vote to the Republican Party.

It’s to get them to not be comfortable voting for anyone.

“America must reject the bigotry of Hillary Clinton,

who sees communities of color

only as votes, not as human beings.”

Republicans don't have to move the needle that much in those communities

to have an incredible impact on election outcomes.

“I’m not convinced African Americans like Hillary Rodham Clinton

as much as they liked Barack Obama.”

“No one in this race, on either side, has that same pull.”

If you don't like either side,

maybe you don't vote.

Now, there are, of course, other factors, too.

That outcome is just one more of many that take us from blue Michigan

to red Michigan.

But remember:

after 2016 is when Michigan starts to swing back.

In 2018, the state elected a Democratic governor by a big margin.

In 2020, it voted for Biden.

And to see how we got there,

we have to talk about...

white women.

This chart comes from exit polls of white women

in Michigan over ten years of presidential and gubernatorial elections.

And it shows us, in the early 2010s, including 2016,

white women in Michigan were voting more for Republicans.

In 2016,

white women across

urban, rural, suburban,

educational level, gave Trump a chance.

But after 2016, something changes.

A big swing among that demographic towards Democrats.

Now, this chart doesn't tell us the reason for that.

But there was something big happening around that time.

A kind of adjustment

in the way that many women in the US were participating

in politics.

“Not my president!”

“We will not be ignored!”

“Millions of people around the world marching for women's rights today.”

One part of Michigan was particularly energized during this period.

“The largest of all was in Washington, DC.”

“Everywhere we turned, we ran into somebody from Michigan.”

“I’m from Huntington Woods, Michigan.”

“Waterford, Michigan.”

“Franklin.”

“We’re from Ferndale!”

Huntington Woods.

Waterford.

Franklin.

Ferndale.

All in Oakland County.

Women, especially white women in places like Oakland,

were a big part of what drove the Democrats to their victory in 2018,

and led to Trump losing the state in 2020.

“I didn't think I'd ever have to worry about whether or not

the president of the United States was a good role model.

and I do now.”

“I spent every day,

from 2016 through now,

making sure I did everything I could to make sure he's not reelected.”

In some ways, Oakland is the mirror image,

or maybe a 180 from Macomb County.

Oakland is the wealthiest county in Michigan,

and the second most well-educated.

And at one time, those things made Oakland

a very Republican county.

But those types of voters - wealthy, well-educated -

they vote differently than they once did.

And you see that in exit polls, too.

This one shows how college-educated voters across

Michigan have voted over the past few elections.

They've been trending heavily towards Democrats.

You can really see the backlash to Trump

in the raw voter turnout numbers in Oakland County.

Turnout in 2016 was kind of unremarkable,

basically in line with earlier years.

But look at how many people voted in the first election

after Trump won, the midterm election of 2018:

Almost as many as in a presidential election.

And the 2020 count

was unprecedented.

Okay.

We’ve finally made it to 2022.

Democrats win it all.

Except sorry one more thing.

“Proposal 2, the anti-gerrymandering proposal.”

“The state overwhelmingly passed Proposal 2.”

In 2018, by a big margin,

Michigan voters approved an anti-gerrymandering measure,

that took redistricting out of the hands of the legislature,

and gave it to an independent commission.

Over the next three years,

that commission would replace these maps, with new maps.

And the first year that these maps would be in effect was 2022.

In 2022, if you added up all the elections for Michigan state representatives,

Democrats won 51% of that vote.

And under the new district lines,

they won 56 out of 110 seats, which is...

51%.

Michigan's independent redistricting commission gave Michigan Democrats

the opportunity to finally have maps that weren't

overly biased to Republicans.

Redistricting unlocks a big part of how this happened,

but there was more going on here.

To really understand 2022,

we have to look at these two stories.

One started with the overturning

of Roe v Wade in June of 2022.

In Michigan, activists responded to that

by putting Proposal 3 on the ballot that year:

a measure that would enshrine

abortion rights in the state constitution.

The measure was really popular,

and passed easily, by more than ten percentage points.

The other big thing

was something happening in the Michigan Republican Party.

By the time 2022 gets around, the Trump wing

of the Republican Party had taken over entirely.

These are photos from a “stop the steal” protest

at the Michigan state capitol, just after the 2020 election.

By May of 2022,

a poll found that a majority of Michigan Republicans

supported overturning the 2020 presidential election.

Among Michigan voters as a whole, though,

only around a quarter agreed with that.

But Republicans running for statewide office

in 2022 largely endorsed that idea.

“How many of you believe that the widespread election fraud

was enough to swing the election toward Biden?

Raise your hand with me.”

That is Tudor Dixon, who Michigan Republicans

nominated for governor in 2022.

“The city of Detroit

has been plagued with election corruption for years.”

And that is Kristina Karamo,

the Republican who ran to be in charge of Michigan's elections.

Both Dixon and Karamo would lose to Democrats

by more than ten percentage points.

One place you could really see the reaction

to abortion rights on the ballot, and to the Republican focus on election fraud,

was the Michigan suburbs,

which exit polls tell us had historically voted Republican

until 2022.

And the next year, Michigan Republicans met at their convention,

and they chose Kristina Karamo

as their new party leader.

“We need to fight to secure our elections.

It's the reason I did not concede after the 2022 election.”

It's almost like that's all you hear from them.

It's tempting to think that Michigan is just a blue state now.

But it won't take much to make it swing back.

For example, Michigan is about 3% Middle Eastern and North African.

Doesn't sound like much, but that actually makes it

the most Arab American state in the country by far.

And that would be worth paying attention to if, for example,

something were to happen

that made Arab American support for Joe Biden go way down.

“President Biden shows unwavering support for Israel,

with the civilian death toll in Gaza rising.”

“I did vote for Joe Biden in 2020.

Do you plan to vote for him in 2024?

I do not.”

Still, if we look back at some of the big moments in this story,

you might notice two things.

First, it's Donald Trump who's actually been the main character

in Michigan politics, going back almost a decade now.

And second, you probably saw some of these things happen

outside of Michigan, too.

This chart shows how every state voted

in the most recent presidential election, 2020.

If you put how the whole US voted onto this chart, it would go here.

And here is Michigan.

In other words, by at least one measure,

Michigan is the state closest to the country as a whole.

Redistricting battles like Michigan's

are happening all over the country.

National exit polls show that college- educated Americans everywhere

have been voting more Democratic, just like in Michigan.

And that non-college educated Americans are doing the opposite.

That's pretty indicative of where the parties are headed.

I do think that you're seeing party coalitions shift.

There's also evidence that the overturning of Roe v. Wade

has been a powerful motivator everywhere, not just in Michigan,

with voters rejecting abortion bans in surprising places

like Kentucky, Montana, Kansas, Ohio...

So, you know,

Michigan can make or break a whole national election.

But there's a better reason for Americans

to be watching Michigan really closely.

And it's that when we do,

we're looking at ourselves.