Former President Donald Trump holds a slight advantage over President Joe Biden in Michigan, according to the latest Emerson College Polling/The Hill survey released on Monday.
Trump is in front of Biden 46% to 44%, with 10% of voters undecided in the key battleground state, according to the poll.
However, the president has been narrowing the gap, as Biden's support in Michigan has gone up by 3 percentage points since last month, while Trump's backing has gone down by 1 percentage point.
Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, pointed out that “male voters in Michigan break for Trump by 12 points, 53% to 41%, whereas women voters break for Biden by 5, 46% to 41%. Michigan's independent voters break for Trump over Biden 43% to 37%.”
The poll was released day before the state holds both its Republican and Democrat primaries.
Many Democrats increasingly fear that Biden's support for Israel in the war against Hamas will substantially harm him among the state's sizable Arab American and Muslim populations, as well as with progressives in general, according to The Hill.
Many observers will be watching closely to see how much backing a campaign to vote “uncommitted” in the Democrat primary will receive amid calls to protest Biden.
Other results from the survey include:
- In the state's Democrat primary, 75% back Biden, while 9% plan to vote “uncommitted” and another 5% say they will support Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips, Biden's long-shot primary challenger.
- When third-party candidates were added to the general ballot, Trump led Biden by 42% to 39%, with Robert F. Kennedy at 6% and Cornel West and Green Party candidate Jill Stein both at 1%.
- The economy was named at the top issue by 30% of voters, with immigration at 13%, democracy at 12%, and healthcare at 10%.
- An average of polls tracked by The Hill and Decision Desk HQ finds that Trump currently leads Biden in Michigan by 3 percentage points.
The poll was carried out between Feb. 20-24 among 1,000 registered voters, with a credibility interval (similar to a margin of error) of plus or minus 3 points.