President Donald Trump’s support among Michigan voters took a sharp dive in polls taken immediately after protesters were forcefully removed so Trump could have his photo taken holding a Bible outside a historic church.
Two surveys of Michigan voters taken by Lansing polling firm EPIC-MRA found a widening gap between Trump and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden after protests against police brutality began outside the White House and across the country. One poll conducted from May 30 to June 3 found Biden leading by 12 percentage points, but the second poll, which started and ended just one day later, recorded a 16-point lead for the former vice president.
EPIC-MRA pollster Bernie Porn attributed the quick drop to public backlash and negative press resulting from Trump’s staged photo on June 1. The two polls collected responses from separate samples of 600 likely Michigan voters and both had a 4% margin of error.
“That is, by the process of elimination, the only reason that you go from a 12-point lead to a 16-point lead,” Porn said. “(Trump) went from 38% of people saying they would definitely vote to re-elect him to only 33% saying that they would definitely vote to re-elect him.”
The two polls showed the percentage of Michigan voters who felt the country is headed in the wrong direction increased from 63% to 70% and the percentage of voters who held a negative view of the president’s job performance also rose from 56% to 61%.
Respondents in West Michigan, an area of the state that largely voted for Trump during his 2016 campaign, also experienced a drop in support. The first poll showed Trump leading 57% to 41%, which narrowed to a 48% to 46% lead for Trump in the second poll.
Porn said the polling indicates Trump’s religious supporters may not have agreed with the treatment of protesters.
Trump was widely criticized, even by some in his own party, after peaceful demonstrators outside the White House were dispersed by law enforcement using chemical irritants, smoke canisters, rubber bullets and other riot control measures.
Demonstrators had gathered between the White House and the St. John’s Episcopal Church to protest the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old unarmed black man who was killed after a white Minneapolis police officer pinned him to the ground for nearly nine minutes. Attorney General William Barr reportedly ordered law enforcement to clear the protesters before Trump gave a speech in the White House Rose Garden.
The president then traveled across the street to the historic church with a security detail and other members of his administration. Trump posed with a Bible outside the church, which had been damaged in a fire during protests one day earlier but gave no formal remarks.
Neither poll included any questions about Trump’s response to police brutality or the Black Lives Matter movement. Porn said he’s confident that survey respondents were affected by news coverage of the incident, which lasted for several days.
“All of that suggests that saturation coverage of one event had an impact,” Porn said.
Porn said the large difference between Biden and Trump is notable. Trump lagged behind his Democratic opponent during the 2016 election, but Hillary Clinton never led by more than 11 percentage points.
Trump went on to win Michigan in 2016 by 10,704 votes, a narrow 0.3% margin. U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Dearborn, warned Michigan Democrats not to read too much into polls during a virtual event held by Biden’s campaign this week.
“Things can obviously change, and I fully expect the race will tighten up again as we proceed toward the election, but this was such a stark difference,” Porn said.
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teslacoil1 on June 17th, 2020 at 13:03 UTC »
Trump had peaceful protesters tear gassed, with rubber bullets fired at them, so he could do a photo op with a Bible in front of a church. The Bible wasn't even his own and the bishop of the church in the photo said of Trump:
GrabEmInThePussy on June 17th, 2020 at 12:18 UTC »
Anybody with a brain could’ve told him it was tone deaf not relevant at all to what is going on. What a stupid move.
OG-Stoney-D on June 17th, 2020 at 12:18 UTC »
What a fucking psycho