A new poll shows Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump leading President Biden by seven points in Michigan, more than double his lead from just a month ago.
Trump leads Biden 49% to 42% in both races and 43% in the five-way contest, with Biden trailing at 36%, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at 8%, Green Party candidate Jill Stein at 2% and Cornel West at 2%. Free Press/EPIC-MRA Poll.
In both cases, about 9% of voters were undecided.
Perhaps most worrying for Biden, polls show Trump leading in every key part of the state over his 2020 nemesis.
The poll was conducted after the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump, but a June Free Press/EPIC-MRA poll had Trump in first place, but his lead over Biden in Michigan has more than doubled. 3-point lead49%, and Biden’s 45%.
Michigan has a massive 15 electoral votes and is widely considered one of the top seven battleground states needed to win the presidential election.
Biden and Trump have been locked in a fierce battle for the key electoral state since Trump won it in 2016 and recaptured it in 2020.
On average, Trump currently holds a 2.1-point advantage over Biden in the Wolverine State, according to the latest polls. RealClearPolitics Count In a two-way race, that difference drops to 1.5 points.
According to RCP, Trump is leading Biden in most key battleground states and even in national races.
The 78-year-old former president was in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Saturday for his first major rally since being formally named the presidential candidate at Thursday’s Republican National Convention.
Vice presidential candidate Senator J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) also joined the campaign.
The incumbent president is facing calls for him to step down from about 30 Democratic lawmakers, who are concerned about his age and his ability to unseat Trump.
In a Free Press/EPIC-MRA poll, when asked whether he should step down, 46% of Democrats said he should, 43% said he shouldn’t, and 11% were undecided.
Among Republicans and independents, 55% want him to become president, 32% feel he should not, and the rest are undecided.
According to the poll, the issues of greatest concern to voters are inflation (31%), immigration (17%) and abortion (12%).
The survey showed that many voters were unfamiliar with the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a transition plan proposed by the ultra-conservative group if Trump wins the presidential election.
The Biden campaign and Democrats have slammed President Trump and Republicans over Project 2025, criticizing the proposal as extreme and focusing on plans to dismantle parts of the government.
President Trump has publicly distanced himself from the project.
Only 27% of those surveyed said they were somewhat familiar with it, 15% said they were very familiar with it, and 57% said they were not very familiar with it.
“Some people on the far right came up with Project 25,” Trump said at a Michigan rally. “I don’t know — I know who some of them are — but they’re very conservative. They’re the opposite of the far left. There’s the far left and there’s the far right.”
Another key finding from the poll is that in the race for the state’s vacant Senate seat, Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) is leading Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) 43% to 40%, with 17% undecided.
The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points and was conducted from July 13 to July 17. In other words, pollsters began surveying about 600 people on the day Trump was shot.
“It’s only going to increase pressure on Biden to step aside and be replaced,” EPIC-MRA pollster Bernie Porn told the Free Press. “It puts Democrats in a tough position.”
