Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is sweating Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
With a recent poll showing former President Donald Trump’s support in the swing state remaining strong despite a guilty verdict in his New York hush money trial, President Joe Biden’s campaign co-chair told CNN’s Dana Bash “Kennedy or any third party candidate gives me some concern, and is to be taken seriously.
“That’s why we’re showing up and we’re working hard in all 83 counties to earn the votes of the people,” Whitmer said, proceeding to trash Kennedy and Trump. “There are a lot of good, traditional Republicans who don’t feel at home with the convicted felon at the top of the ballot, who know that Kennedy has got lots of far-out, kind of wild ideas about science and the future, and doesn’t even have the support of his own family.”
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“All that being said, we can’t make any assumptions,” Whitmer told Bash. “We have to earn every single vote, and that’s what we’re doing.”
Whitmer’s comments came in response to Bash noting Kennedy secured the support of 9% of Michiganders in a recent poll, though Bash did not specify which poll she was referencing.
One from Mitchell Research & Communications on June 3 showed Kennedy with 3%, while another from Florida Atlantic University from May 30-31 put Kennedy’s support at 11%.
The Mitchell poll from last week estimated a 0.6 point lead for Trump over Biden in the Great Lakes State, which increases to 1.2 points when third-party candidates are included.
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“The survey of likely voters … was conducted on Monday, days after a Manhattan jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business records in his hush money trial,” the New York Post reports. “More Michigan voters (38%) responded that the verdict in the case made them more likely to vote for Trump than against him (25%). Thirty-seven percent said the guilty verdict had ‘no influence’ in how they would vote.”
Steve Mitchell, president of MRC, pointed out that “Trump’s lead has narrowed from 2% to 0.6% since our last survey conducted in May 20-21, 2024 before Trump’s conviction.
“In the May 2024 survey Trump had solidified his base better than Biden but post-conviction Biden is doing slightly better with Democrats (95%) than Trump has with Republicans (93%),” he said. “Trump has dropped from 9% to 4% with Democrats while Biden has gone from 4% of Republicans to 5%. Trump now leads with Independents 47%-40%.”
The politics site FiveThirtyEight’s polling average since March 1 puts Trump up on Biden in Michigan 41.7% to 41.3%, with Kennedy at 7.9%.
In head-to-head polling since the beginning of May, Trump has led in five polls, compared to four polls favoring Biden, while one poll had them even in Michigan. With third party candidates included, they each led in five polls, according to FiveThirtyEight.
Regarding Trump’s conviction, “the overall political environment hasn’t changed much,” according to NBC News analysis of post-conviction polling.
“This might be the biggest conclusion so far from the early post-conviction polls. Two of the polls – Reuters/Ipsos and Morning Consult – released the results of the race between President Joe Biden and Trump after the verdict. While the movement in each was in Biden’s direction, it was within the margin of error and looked like other national surveys we’ve seen before the verdict,” the news site reports.
In the Reuters poll, Trump lost 1% for a Biden lead 41% to 39%, while the Morning Consult poll showed Trump’s support stayed steady at 44%, while Biden’s support bumped up from 42% to 45%.
“In addition, the ABC News/Ipsos poll found the favorability ratings for Trump and Biden to be essentially unchanged from an earlier survey in March,” according to the news site.