we have been saying it Michigan is a Battleground State Kent County is among a handful of counties Nationwide that experts say will determine the outcome of the election Doug kopman political expert professor professor Meritus at Kelvin joins us now and first let's remind people why is Kent County so important in the election well it is Michigan is a tossup state and Kent County really is a tossup county president Trump narrowly won it in 2016 and lost it by about 20,000 votes in 2020 so there w
as a 30,000 vote swing over the four years years so this is all up again in 2024 so this is President Trump's former president Trump's first visit here in this election cycle President Biden has not yet been here are you surprised that they haven't made more of a conscious effort to be in West Michigan more well each party has a different theme the Democratic party really is reproductive choice and and that now Vice President Harris was here about five or six weeks ago to to raise that issue and
she's probably the most effective spokesman on that issue for the Democratic party and of course the Republicans issue main issue is immigration and uh they don't have a Vice Presidential nominee yet and president Trump is the presumed nominee and then this is his issue and that's why he comes but they were both it's uh both will come to Grand Rapids I do expect President Biden to be in western Michigan too before the before the election's over so you know when Ruby Garcia died 10 days ago it's
going to be two weeks on Friday and then last week we learned that President former president Trump was coming here to Grand Rapids and this is exactly the the focus on immigration as you mentioned yeah both parties are competing really what we call framing what is the question at the top of Voters Minds when they go to vote and the Democratic party wants it around choice and care and those sorts of issues and the Republican party wants it around immigration and Law and Order and so it's really
a comp competition among framing what the election is about more than the subject matter of the issue itself so what do you think that we should be looking for here now as we continue to get closer to the election well I think we're both sort to be used as a prop or a stage or a venue for a national message National messages have always gotten a little more complicated in West Michigan with our tradition of bipartisanship and working across the aisle and have moderates from both parties so they
're not going to be quite great fits for the electorate in West Michigan but it's an important stage it's easy to get to uh great media coverage and so I would expect um all four people who are on the National Ticket the presidential and vice presidential uh candidates on both parties to be in Grand Rapids between the seven months between now and really election day November and we've talked one more just one more quick question about Kent County because it has changed so much in recent years an
d that's another reason why it's so important because of the demographics and where people are moving every significant demographic group nationally is in Kent County uh the external suburbs becoming more Republican and blue collar workers union uh retirees becoming more Republican inner ring suburbs and wealthier more educated people becoming more democratic even though they're you know believe in markets and things like that so every significant Democrat demographic group N nationally is in Gr
and area right here in Kent County D Coan well I'm sure we'll be talking a lot more between now and the election day thank you so much thank you
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