Former President Donald Trump has opened up an eight-percentage-point lead over President Biden in the battleground state of Michigan, matching his largest margin in recent polling of the Mitten State.
The CNN/SSRS survey published Friday showed the 45th president, 77, leading the 46th president, 81, by 50% to 42% among registered voters.
The eight-point spread in favor of Trump matches a Detroit News poll of likely voters from early January that showed the former president leading Biden 47% to 39% among likely voters.
In 2016, Trump became the first Republican presidential candidate in 28 years to win Michigan, before Biden swung the state back into the Democratic column in 2020.
The CNN/SSRS poll also showed Trump and Biden tied in the incumbent’s birth state of Pennsylvania at 46% each.
Trump’s large margin in Michigan is attributed to his 10-point lead among self-proclaimed independents (47% to 37%) and double-digit lead among voters under 35 (51% to 35%). Biden also has the support of just 55% of “voters of color” while Trump has 34% in the same demographic.
Biden is struggling to dispel a large “uncommitted” Michigan voter movement that is threatening to withhold support from the incumbent until he calls for a cease-fire in Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Michigan has the largest percentage of Arab-Americans in the country, and local leaders and members of Congress called on voters to mark “uncommitted” in the Feb. 27 Democratic primary to send a message to Biden before the November election.
Both men have also tried to woo auto industry workers, with Biden winning the support of the United Autor Workers union and Trump arguing the president’s push to boost electric vehicles will hurt American car manufacturing.
The poll also shows that most Michigan voters are unhappy at the prospect of a Biden-Trump rematch, with 53% saying they were “dissatisfied” or “very dissatisfied” with the candidates on offer.
Meanwhile, just 35% of Michigan voters approve of Biden’s job performance while 64% disapprove.
In a hypothetical four-way matchup between Trump, Biden, and independent candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West, 40% choose Trump and 34% pick Biden, while 18% are for Kennedy and 4% for West.
The CNN polls were conducted March 13-18 via telephone and online. In Michigan, the sample size was 1.097 registered voters with a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3.6%, and in Pennsylvania, there was a sample size of 1,132 voters and a plus-or-minus 3.8% margin of error.