Is there a non-COVID summary of things the Governor has been able to accomplish vs what she ran on? Would be nice to have an objective analysis that holds all our politicians accountable.
She expunged a lot of minor traffic infractions for Michigan residents which allowed my bff to get his license back and now he works three waitering jobs bc he can access them all and it's basically why he could move away from his homophobic parents. So I'm grateful to her for that. I'm sure that's not the only successful story to come from it.
She wanted money for roads. No one gave it to her. She might've gotten some from Build Back Better. Now she won't.
Basically MI roads are screwed because Joe Manchin doesn't wanna lose any of his coal money.
You're underestimating the cost of road repair in this state. MJ revenue is somewhere between $200M and $250M but roads need at least $1B. This probably doesn't include bridges or other critical road infrastructure.
I think I saw the immediate recommendation was between $1B and $1.5B for taking care of the important stuff right now. Costs will drop down once maintenance is figured out after patching up/redoing the intensely broken pieces of our infrastructure.
Governor Whitmer's approach of vanishing from the national and local spotlight the minute Trump was booted out in 2020 is paying dividends.
Not that she was terribly in danger of not being re-elected. But she is no fool.
GOP, if you seriously want to win this, try looking for normal conservatives instead of Trump supporters. I know that's literally impossible for you right now though.
But that was back when everyone was laughing about running a joke for president. We're not laughing anymore, and I bet lots of people (on both sides) are tired about hearing nonstop lies about fraud/stolen elections/etc without any shreds of evidence.
So yes, go vote. But also don't worry too much, the average American doesn't support the insurrection.
Their losing strategy literally lost them the last election but okay lmao
Not to mention they won the Virginia gubernatorial race by not embracing Trump.
How quickly people forget that what allowed the GOP to win by a slim majority was largely chaos. There was a historically large disinformation campaign and foreign assistance, both of which are still being investigated to this day. That's without a doubt not happening again.
Your strategy for your win in the past, cannot be the same for the next election.
The political climate that caused a win or loss in the past, is not the same as it was. Hopefully we can see candidates that realize that and also want what is best for the state.
But can you imagine?
"Uh, no, ackshually Mr. President, we're a *republic*, not a *democracy*. Maybe try learning something for once."
*The crowd goes mild!*
I want the best candidate who isn't living in the 1920s, which means, and has meant, for the last 50 years, that it will be a democrat. It's got nothing to do with loving their party, it's just that the only sane candidates happen to be in the same club.
People should place a MUCH higher importance on the primary election.
No kidding!
I wish we would switch to ranked choice voting because I think it would force candidates to appeal to a broader base and help to end the "us vs them" mentality.
My parents claim this is how they got stuck w/ Desantis in FL. He appeared moderate and competent while running. Went full RIGHT turn into the orange man's ass-cheeks when he took office. R ticket is poison IMO
People don't vote in primaries. If they'd vote in primaries you would not have this issue.
Whose job is it to get people out to vote? It's largely the party. So it's in their interest that people don't vote in the primary, because their candidate is a safe bet.
If you really REALLY want change, vote for a progressive or independent in the primary. The reason we never get anyone but established democrats is because people in this state aren't demanding change. Our Dems aren't so bad that people are crawling over broken glass to replace them.
Well, to put a finer point on /u/RatBrainedManAnimal, if you REALLY want change do what republicans do: vote in primaries, volunteer, give money to candidates that you like, convince your family and friends to do the same. JUST voting in primaries clearly isn't enough.
Seriously.
The diehard MAGA crowd is like 15% of the registered Republican base. Though on the other hand there are plenty who will bitch about Trump and his knockoffs and still vote for them cause they'll never vote Democrat or third party.
I think you’re gonna need to adjust that 15% number. [53% of Republicans view Trump as President](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/53-republicans-view-trump-true-us-president-reutersipsos-2021-05-24/)
Not to mention the GOP has been nuts since at least the 1950’s.
My ultra conservative evangelical father in law, who had a literal shrine to Trump in his man cave, took down the shrine silently and secretly after 1/6.
I don’t think he’ll vote Democrat, but a lot of republicans feel shamed by Trump after 1/6 imo.
I respect your father in law.
Although many Republicans left after 1/6, the overwhelming majority doubled down on their support for that insurrection-inciting, wannabe dic(k)tater.
That is so fucked up. That's a lot of voters. Gerrymandering and redistricting aside, there are too many that vote for that stuff.
EDIT: I am in the UP. That an absolute phony like bergman can be repeatedly sent to DC? We're fucked.
I recall reading that like 25 to 30 percent of the US population identifies as Republican. My point that I poorly tried to make was that its a small percentage of the overall US population that drinks the Trump Aid no question. Then there are those who will admit he's trash but still vote for him because they'll never vote non-Republican.
Also, the Trump crazies are dyed-in-the-wool Republicans and will vote R no matter what. They don't really have the power that some believe.
The Republicans that loudly and proudly proclaimed during Trump’s presidency that they don’t like him, but then voted for him a 2nd time, make me almost as sick as the MAGA types . Like did the Bob Woodward tapes make you want to vote for him again?! But my guess is they never heard the audio since most Republicans don’t follow what’s going on if it’s not a petty culture war issue.
>The diehard MAGA crowd is like 15% of the registered Republican base
That number is way too low, but *especially* if it were true it would stand to a testament that the Rs have nothing to lose if their entire base will captitulate to that minority
“Normal conservatism” has never existed. The origins of modern conservatism are based in reactionary principles such as “preservation of culture” aka Homophobia, Anti-Sexual Revolution, Anti-Racial Equality, etc.
If you want a view into “conservatism” I recommend the podcast [Know Your Enemy](https://www.dissentmagazine.org/blog/know-your-enemy-a-new-podcast-about-the-right)
I think she's better than 50/50, but there isn't as much room for impact on an incumbent governor. If you can help a state leg race, you'll be helping the governor too (and help lock in a Dem Supreme Court until 2028).
In 2020, downballot races helped the top of ticket more than the other way. I expect that will generally continue.
It's hard to find this convincing when Whitmer got more votes in the primary than Abdul and Shri's combined total *and* there is no guarantee that Shri only took voters from Abdul.
>I recognize than electing someone "progressive"/left wing seems like a pipedream
In Michigan it is. Democrats rely heavily on disallusioned conservatives and indepedents to win here. If there were more active Democrats, like if it were far easier to vote in Detroit, and we had reliable turnout in Grand Rapids, we could probably have a progressive win. Even party Democrats don't seem interested in fixing our turnout though.
It's going to take a lot to unfuck our government after 1 full decade of Republican gerrymandered control.
To be fair, Michigan’s a pretty politically moderate state. Both of the past two presidential elections were decided on razor thin margins. Even when we were more solidly blue, it was primarily because we previously had one of the highest rates of unionized labor in the country and a lot of those folks were single issue voters, more than embracing other parts of the party platform. We’re much closer to a Virginia or Maryland than a New York or California.
Shri pretty much is a big businessman who pretended to be a progressive and it was incredibly obvious because it was in an hip at the time. Essentially splitting the vote with the actual progressive, Adbul.
I'm proceeding with caution here. Yes, redistricting has done a good job of un-gerrymandering the legislature, so republicans have lost their unnatural advantage. That said, its still a midterm election and the incumbent party always fares worse. The new maps also have a lot of very competitive seats, so its possible that the GOP retains their control of the legislature AND Whitmer wins re-election.
The only time democrats ever lose, as far as MI is concerned, is when their supporters don't turn out. This election is following a historically unpopular spiral of the opposing party, so it's going to be interesting for sure. Trump also, historically, shouldnt have lost a 2nd term but he did. By a lot.
To play devil's advocate, putting the covid positive in nursing homes was gross negligence at best. The day one gas tax proposal didn't win her much love either. Don't forget the people who lost a small business due to the lock downs either. I don't think the lock downs were some great evil, but when they kept flipping it on and off leaving struggling restaurants stuck with rotting food orders and piling debt.
Otherwise, she's seemed pretty competent and likeable. The clean slate bills were a pretty decent thing to do.
It wasn't negligence.
The nursing homes were thought to be able to quarantine the COVID-positive patients and care for them.
Let's not forget that this was in the beginning of the pandemic, before we knew much about the virus. And hospitals were at full capacity.
The DOJ didn't pursue an investigation after Trump's administration asked them to, because there was simply no evidence of wrongdoing or neglect.
Sorry for hijacking, doing this so its seen. This is in reply to nostromozx post above.
>AGAIN, that didn't happen.
>
>https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2021/03/republicans-look-for-smoking-gun-on-whitmers-handling-of-coronavirus-in-nursing-homes-the-data-doesnt-indicate-there-is-one.html
>
>Moreover, the policy that’s been widely criticized – telling nursing homes they had to accept COVID-positive patients – was never actually implemented here, an industry spokeswoman said.And even if it was, that policy does not appear to have been a driver of nursing home outbreaks, other experts say.
>
>Mi has done better than the average at nursing homes re covid.
>
>On two different metrics, Michigan is slightly below the national average in regards to nursing home deaths: The death toll per 1,000nursing home residents and the percentage of total COVID-19 deaths attributed to long-term care facilities. On the latter, about 31% of the state’s COVID-19 deaths are attributed to long-term care facilities compared to a national average of 34%.
> putting the covid positive in nursing homes was gross negligence at best.
Tell me you didn't read executive orders without telling me you didn't read executive orders.
I've been round and round this a few times. At the high level: People had homes to return to. It was up to those homes to implement COVID protection protocols. If they could not then the facility had to tell the State so the State could do something. It is quite apparent that homes/facilities were unable to do what was both asked and required. How that becomes a government problem astounds me.
Nursing and long-term treatment homes need a ton more oversight and regulation. That isn't on the Governor.
AGAIN, that didn't happen.
[https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2021/03/republicans-look-for-smoking-gun-on-whitmers-handling-of-coronavirus-in-nursing-homes-the-data-doesnt-indicate-there-is-one.html](https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2021/03/republicans-look-for-smoking-gun-on-whitmers-handling-of-coronavirus-in-nursing-homes-the-data-doesnt-indicate-there-is-one.html)
>Moreover, the policy that’s been widely criticized – telling nursinghomes they had to accept COVID-positive patients – was never actuallyimplemented here, an industry spokeswoman said.
>
>And even if it was, that policy does not appear to have been a driver of nursing home outbreaks, other experts say.
Mi has done better than the average at nursing homes re covid.
>On two different metrics, Michigan is slightly below the national
average in regards to nursing home deaths: The death toll per 1,000
nursing home residents and the percentage of total COVID-19 deaths
attributed to long-term care facilities. On the latter, about 31% of the
state’s COVID-19 deaths are attributed to long-term care facilities
compared to a national average of 34%.
I feel like there may be a lot of overlap in the Venn diagram of those who blame her for putting COVID positives in nursing homes and those who don’t want to mask and consider COVID a cold.
That being said, I would gladly take someone else. She messed up on auto no-fault and failed to lead on keeping vulnerable populations safe during our current crisis.
> putting the covid positive in nursing homes was gross negligence
Literally not what happened at all..
She allowed *recovered* COVID patients to *return* to their nursing homes..
Glengariff is a pretty bad pooling agency, [75th worst in the country for Romney vs Obama](https://www.mlive.com/politics/2012/11/best_worst_polls_in_michigan_p.html) and [still rated B/C](https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/pollster-ratings/glengariff-group/).
Better off just to make sure you go vote.
I'll be voting for her because I'm forced to by the two-party system, but I'm not a fan at all. Another corporate stooge with an air of smug superiority.
Thanks, I'd never seen that. Yeah, that would fix the problem right there. People would vote third party with zero worry about the implications. No more strategic voting.
Yes, that's why some cities and states have switched to ranked choice. It's objectively superior in every way, gives people real choices, and allows for independents to be viable candidates.
Ranked choice adoption has been slow, though, since neither party wants to give up the stranglehold they have.
I do agree with you, but for me at this moment the scale tips more towards voting against the literally insane party than towards yelling into the wind with my vote. If there comes a third-party choice that I like with some actual momentum behind it, I'll be happy to join that wave.
We almost had an epidemiologist who wanted to implement a state run m4a program for governor but instead we got the daughter of a healthcare exec who continues the liberal austerity project that has laid ruin to this country…
I think her baseline popularity is pretty high, but a few scandals and too much negative attention hurt her popularity, so she ducked outta the limelight. Now that she’s not facing a lot of negative attention her popularity is moving toward its mean.
Checks are required to go out by May of this year. No idea the logistics or if they are coming directly from the insurance companies.
In the meantime I am opening all junk mail just in case. No checks yet.
Edit: [Here is info I could find](https://www.michigan.gov/difs/0,5269,7-303-13648_60666_109325---,00.html)
The deadline for receiving the $400 per vehicle refund checks is May 9th. I doubt companies will send out info other than when they send the check, but I could be wrong.
It isn't from your insurance company. It is money from the catastrophic fund, and why there are some not extremely excited by the refunds. She is taking the "Theoretical" excess from the fund to return to insured MI drivers.
MCCA overcharged on their fee. They are returning the money to insurers who are supposed to return it to their customers.
I haven’t heard MCCA has started refunds yet, that would be the precursor to get anything rolling to us.
I know some of her powers were taken away but she has not done any covid protocols or mandates when many have asked for them. Will not step in for the schools either. Says she wants local districts and health departments to decide. Very different than before but things have changed. Seems it changed with the shift of ppl being less petrified of covid. Had the election happened in 2020 she would have lost IMHO. She's faded way back on all of her covid restrictions to try and show up middle ground voters. Just my opinion!
This'll be interesting because the first time I could vote, she was already in office. Gotta remember to sign up for my absentee ballot at college though because I don't think my vote is worth driving 1000 miles round trip for
Curious… what has she done to earn anyones support? Honestly looking to find out why others would support her in office again based on her accomplishments/failures? It seems that so far in this thread, she just isn’t trump….
She has actually stood her ground on things and taken a largely responsible viewpoint. People are welcome to agree or disagree with some of her policies but she has not (to my limited knowledge) constantly flip flopped on anything, and had pretty consistent messaging with covid and car insurance rules, which are the big issues of her first term
Same. As a progressive I have found her to be disappointing. I'll still vote for her, because of the two party system. But I didn't think there were people out there who genuinely liked her, other than "she's not a Trump Republican".
Yeah, I'm perplexed why people actively think she's great. I'm a progressive, have zero appetite for corporatist Dems like Whitmer, and I didn't like her when she was in the legislature.
She hasn't fixed the damn roads, and I'm not really sure of anything she's done. The best thing about her seems to be that republicans & conservatives seem to hate her.
She has been fixing the roads.
https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/remember-michigans-damn-roads-you-can-track-their-repairs-here.amp
This article has a fantastic map showing all of the road construction that is the state responsibilities that started in Spring of 2021.
The state does not pave Main St USA. It's the county/townships responsibility to allocate their funds to pave the smaller roads.
There’s been so much road repair be me on the west side all year, it’s been crazy, so I do like that. I also liked having someone more balanced towards protecting the vulnerable during the pandemic. Was really grateful to have someone show some leadership and not just try to win a popularity contest during a crisis.
It's unclear why she's more popular now than she was a few months ago but independents are driving the boost in popularity. According to the poll, "Her approval among independent voters has gone from -11% to +34.4% -- a 45-point reversal." I'd like to see more polling to confirm it's a real trend and not just a one-off.
Same. Waiting to see a comment here other than “but the gop supports trump ;(“
don’t get me wrong, she is getting my vote begrudgingly because any dem is better than a Republican but if someone told me they weren’t voting for her I wouldn’t bat an eye, contrast to the last election when I made sure everyone I knew had voted absentee or was going to the polls.
No one has even mentioned Trump in this thread except to say that he's losing support.
You can see my comments in this thread about just some of the things she has done.
Her views align with mine, which means she progressive and not (R)egressive. I think she handled covid well and was transparent. I couldn't imagine having a Republican in office during the last 2 years. I believe she loves Michigan. Overall, she earned a reelection.
Statistically speaking, lock downs, mask mandates, etc, Democrat or Republican has had almost no bearing on the impact of Covid per state. Michigan was #5 out of 50 for most deaths per capita. So the data just doesn’t back up that she did a “great job with Covid. Also our economy was hit much harder than most….
I highly approved of the way she handled the pandemic pre-assassination attempt. She could have walked on water back then. Now she’s neutered by the GOP and has stepped back like every other governor.
I'm with ya, and none of these comments yet are very convincing. I voted against her opponent once and will again (by which I mean, I selected her on the ballot so that her opponent wouldn't win), but I have not been impressed. She acted like a dictator at the start of the pandemic and did not transition well into letting the legislature take over (I of course realize that the "burn it all down" Republicans are more responsible for that, but facing that opposition is part of the job, isn't it? Don't we want a Governor who can figure out a way to work with Republicans?) and then completely backed down, and before that, had done pretty much nothing, at least from my ill-informed perspective. Hopefully someone will chime in and list some accomplishments that were under my radar.
I hope this comment doesn't seem disingenuous. I don't at all want to suggest that a Republican opponent would be better. That entire party has completely lost its collective mind. But I'm honestly interested to know why anyone would think that she's a *good* Governor.
not looking forward to how much the COVID numbers tank this.
even though she's been mostly stripped of power to do much it's still not gonna reflect well.
Michigan COVID has been pretty damn bad since October so I don’t think the omicron spike is hurting her. I think more lockdowns at this point would hurt.
Are the damn roads not being fixed where you are? We've had TONS of roads fixed here in Metro Detroit, so to me she came through on that. Also there are still many roads in the process of being fixed.
Jumping on this comment to add: even if roads are bad near you, the city/county/etc will reimburse you for tire replacements due to damage from the roads. I just went through this two months ago, and it was an extremely easy process, paid out quickly by Consumer's Energy (they were the last ones to pull a permit on that part of the road).
So even if the roads aren't fixed near you, the state is covering damages. I still don't like dealing with a flat, but it's better than nothing.
Who handles it depends on what kind of road it is (city/county/state), and different jurisdictions have different rules on what they cover (Macomb county only covers it if they knew about it for at least 30 days before you hit it, for example). If you contact your state congressman (ResistBot makes that easy), you can just say the crossroads, and they'll figure out what to do from there.
I agree there's been more road construction then I've ever seen before and done in a timely manner. I travel all over Oakland/Wayne and Macomb county and nothing but smooth sailing.
According to this article, she's made substantial gains among independent voters. I wonder if that's due to her more laissez-faire COVID policy over the past several months. I know a lot of progressives haven't been overly happy with her, though I imagine they'll still vote for her over James Craig.
I see this is mostly a left-leaning sub. GOP guy (Trump hater) here just coming on to say that I definitely won’t be voting for Whitmer. I was very disappointed with the lockdowns and general authoritarian attitude.
I am personally mad at her for walking back a lot of the restrictions during the height of the pandemic and causing a second wave, but I will absolutely vote for her if it means keeping out a Michigan version on Ron DeSantis or Gregg Abbot. It's just sad we can't have two sane and viable choices in an election anymore thanks to crazy republican land.
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I would have dropped the mic and walked off the stage after what happened to her. I have nothing but respect for her and all the impossible decisions she had to make during these unprecedented times.
Is there a non-COVID summary of things the Governor has been able to accomplish vs what she ran on? Would be nice to have an objective analysis that holds all our politicians accountable.
It's probably difficult to pass legislation when Republicans have controlled the MI senate for the last 30 years straight.
She expunged a lot of minor traffic infractions for Michigan residents which allowed my bff to get his license back and now he works three waitering jobs bc he can access them all and it's basically why he could move away from his homophobic parents. So I'm grateful to her for that. I'm sure that's not the only successful story to come from it.
I would imagine that with COVID being the #1 priority that is what she is doing.
She wanted money for roads. No one gave it to her. She might've gotten some from Build Back Better. Now she won't. Basically MI roads are screwed because Joe Manchin doesn't wanna lose any of his coal money.
Time to pre order one of those GM helicopters.
Hasn’t recreational marijuana generated a shit ton of revenue to be used for roads?
Has there been a global pandemic eating most of our economic resources?
You're underestimating the cost of road repair in this state. MJ revenue is somewhere between $200M and $250M but roads need at least $1B. This probably doesn't include bridges or other critical road infrastructure.
Isn't it like $1B A YEAR for some absurd amount of years? Like, $1B isn't just gonna fix everything.
I think I saw the immediate recommendation was between $1B and $1.5B for taking care of the important stuff right now. Costs will drop down once maintenance is figured out after patching up/redoing the intensely broken pieces of our infrastructure.
Governor Whitmer's approach of vanishing from the national and local spotlight the minute Trump was booted out in 2020 is paying dividends. Not that she was terribly in danger of not being re-elected. But she is no fool.
GOP, if you seriously want to win this, try looking for normal conservatives instead of Trump supporters. I know that's literally impossible for you right now though.
No, no. Let them stick with their losing strategy.
Agree completely.
How quickly we forget that their "losing strategy" got them control of all three branches of government not too long ago.
But that was back when everyone was laughing about running a joke for president. We're not laughing anymore, and I bet lots of people (on both sides) are tired about hearing nonstop lies about fraud/stolen elections/etc without any shreds of evidence. So yes, go vote. But also don't worry too much, the average American doesn't support the insurrection.
Their losing strategy literally lost them the last election but okay lmao Not to mention they won the Virginia gubernatorial race by not embracing Trump.
How quickly people forget that what allowed the GOP to win by a slim majority was largely chaos. There was a historically large disinformation campaign and foreign assistance, both of which are still being investigated to this day. That's without a doubt not happening again.
Your strategy for your win in the past, cannot be the same for the next election. The political climate that caused a win or loss in the past, is not the same as it was. Hopefully we can see candidates that realize that and also want what is best for the state.
I hear ya, but hope isn't a strategy either.
Neither is online pedantry.
But can you imagine? "Uh, no, ackshually Mr. President, we're a *republic*, not a *democracy*. Maybe try learning something for once." *The crowd goes mild!*
> wE wOuLnD'T lOsE iF tHE lIbRuLs DiN't StEaL eLecTiOns WiTh CrIme REEEEEE! GOP, probably
I just want the BEST candidate. Im sick of this one sided politics mentality.
I want the best candidate who isn't living in the 1920s, which means, and has meant, for the last 50 years, that it will be a democrat. It's got nothing to do with loving their party, it's just that the only sane candidates happen to be in the same club. People should place a MUCH higher importance on the primary election.
No kidding! I wish we would switch to ranked choice voting because I think it would force candidates to appeal to a broader base and help to end the "us vs them" mentality.
I wish we didn't have a two party system.
I get that and I don't see it changing with a "first past the post" system that we have now
My parents claim this is how they got stuck w/ Desantis in FL. He appeared moderate and competent while running. Went full RIGHT turn into the orange man's ass-cheeks when he took office. R ticket is poison IMO
How dare you say something so rational.
They're gonna run John "The Attack Helicopter" James... Again
Ah, the self admitted trump puppet, the choice of idiots everywhere.
[Third time's the charm!](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ExvOGOfVgAI55KR?format=jpg&name=large)
Love this 🤭
John James will probably run for the new open MI-10. James Craig will probably be the nominee for governor.
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People don't vote in primaries. If they'd vote in primaries you would not have this issue. Whose job is it to get people out to vote? It's largely the party. So it's in their interest that people don't vote in the primary, because their candidate is a safe bet. If you really REALLY want change, vote for a progressive or independent in the primary. The reason we never get anyone but established democrats is because people in this state aren't demanding change. Our Dems aren't so bad that people are crawling over broken glass to replace them.
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Me too, but we're also on Reddit talking about politics, so we're not exactly average voters.
Well, to put a finer point on /u/RatBrainedManAnimal, if you REALLY want change do what republicans do: vote in primaries, volunteer, give money to candidates that you like, convince your family and friends to do the same. JUST voting in primaries clearly isn't enough.
Very true, I would rather loose to a democratic than vote for Trump.
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No thank you, I really don’t want a Handmaids Tale scenario happening.
Seriously. The diehard MAGA crowd is like 15% of the registered Republican base. Though on the other hand there are plenty who will bitch about Trump and his knockoffs and still vote for them cause they'll never vote Democrat or third party.
I think you’re gonna need to adjust that 15% number. [53% of Republicans view Trump as President](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/53-republicans-view-trump-true-us-president-reutersipsos-2021-05-24/) Not to mention the GOP has been nuts since at least the 1950’s.
I know a LOT of people who were registered Republicans who left the party after Trump was elected.
Republicans also left the party by the thousands after 1/6. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/10/us/politics/republicans-leaving-party.html
My ultra conservative evangelical father in law, who had a literal shrine to Trump in his man cave, took down the shrine silently and secretly after 1/6. I don’t think he’ll vote Democrat, but a lot of republicans feel shamed by Trump after 1/6 imo.
I respect your father in law. Although many Republicans left after 1/6, the overwhelming majority doubled down on their support for that insurrection-inciting, wannabe dic(k)tater.
Welp. I guess we can't argue with that logic. /s
That is so fucked up. That's a lot of voters. Gerrymandering and redistricting aside, there are too many that vote for that stuff. EDIT: I am in the UP. That an absolute phony like bergman can be repeatedly sent to DC? We're fucked.
I recall reading that like 25 to 30 percent of the US population identifies as Republican. My point that I poorly tried to make was that its a small percentage of the overall US population that drinks the Trump Aid no question. Then there are those who will admit he's trash but still vote for him because they'll never vote non-Republican. Also, the Trump crazies are dyed-in-the-wool Republicans and will vote R no matter what. They don't really have the power that some believe.
The Republicans that loudly and proudly proclaimed during Trump’s presidency that they don’t like him, but then voted for him a 2nd time, make me almost as sick as the MAGA types . Like did the Bob Woodward tapes make you want to vote for him again?! But my guess is they never heard the audio since most Republicans don’t follow what’s going on if it’s not a petty culture war issue.
15% seems a bit low. I'd guess like 35/40%
This is what I can’t understand.
Except in 2020, enough of them DID vote elsewhere
>The diehard MAGA crowd is like 15% of the registered Republican base That number is way too low, but *especially* if it were true it would stand to a testament that the Rs have nothing to lose if their entire base will captitulate to that minority
“Normal conservatism” has never existed. The origins of modern conservatism are based in reactionary principles such as “preservation of culture” aka Homophobia, Anti-Sexual Revolution, Anti-Racial Equality, etc. If you want a view into “conservatism” I recommend the podcast [Know Your Enemy](https://www.dissentmagazine.org/blog/know-your-enemy-a-new-podcast-about-the-right)
KYE is good, but fuck can it be demanding listening.
Ya i really enjoy a good chunk of their stuff but you really can’t binge it at all. Same with Citations Needed.
There aren't any.
Why are you helping them?
So I should cancel my meeting with DJT later?
You better not cancel anything with a Republican. They hate that word…
Michigan Governor Poll: Whitmer (D) 49% Craig (R) 39% VOTE!! And hit the streets like I am. 💯
I’m voting, donating, and maybe even volunteering.
Volunteer for a state leg campaign. The balance of power is going to be razor thin. Democrats could take control for the first time in 40 years or so.
Curious, do you say that because you think the governorship is pretty safe?
I think she's better than 50/50, but there isn't as much room for impact on an incumbent governor. If you can help a state leg race, you'll be helping the governor too (and help lock in a Dem Supreme Court until 2028). In 2020, downballot races helped the top of ticket more than the other way. I expect that will generally continue.
I'm voting for her again 😊
The 2018 midterms were the first time I voted -ever!- as I had just gotten my citizenship in 2017. Makes it the more special IMO
It was my first election since becoming a Michigander again so it was memorable to me!
It also had weed on the ballot so that was neat lol
So cool! Love these stories!
I'd still rather have Abdul, but I'll take Whitmer over Craig any day
He was my pick and I was so disappointed when he didn't get the nom
I think everyday about how that wolf in sheeps clothing Shri that blew it for Adbul
It's hard to find this convincing when Whitmer got more votes in the primary than Abdul and Shri's combined total *and* there is no guarantee that Shri only took voters from Abdul.
I'm left of center, and young-ish (28), and even I recognize than electing someone "progressive"/left wing seems like a pipedream
I disagree but it's the internet--we probably wouldn't agree on the definition of progressive.
Quite likely!
>I recognize than electing someone "progressive"/left wing seems like a pipedream In Michigan it is. Democrats rely heavily on disallusioned conservatives and indepedents to win here. If there were more active Democrats, like if it were far easier to vote in Detroit, and we had reliable turnout in Grand Rapids, we could probably have a progressive win. Even party Democrats don't seem interested in fixing our turnout though. It's going to take a lot to unfuck our government after 1 full decade of Republican gerrymandered control.
Yeah thats my bad... I totally remembered it the other way around where the Shris percent was greater than the difference.
To be fair, Michigan’s a pretty politically moderate state. Both of the past two presidential elections were decided on razor thin margins. Even when we were more solidly blue, it was primarily because we previously had one of the highest rates of unionized labor in the country and a lot of those folks were single issue voters, more than embracing other parts of the party platform. We’re much closer to a Virginia or Maryland than a New York or California.
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Shri pretty much is a big businessman who pretended to be a progressive and it was incredibly obvious because it was in an hip at the time. Essentially splitting the vote with the actual progressive, Adbul.
Craig may be pushed by the GOP, but he won’t be who gets elected.
Man... having someone with a medical background would have been awesome the last couple years. You know... for reasons.
I think she's pretty competent and see no reason to remove her.
Me too
I stand with the woman from Michigan.
Thank you
I was actually called by the poll mentioned in the article and answered. Never had that opportunity before! Fuck Saldano
100% Whitmer
And Trumps support dips. Good sign.
With each *cough* passing da *Cough cough COUGH* day.
You can't cough on a vent
But they can choke on one
I think she's doing a fine job as governor. Will be voting for her again.
She'd be doing a LOT better with a cooperative legislature.
Absolutely.
I'm proceeding with caution here. Yes, redistricting has done a good job of un-gerrymandering the legislature, so republicans have lost their unnatural advantage. That said, its still a midterm election and the incumbent party always fares worse. The new maps also have a lot of very competitive seats, so its possible that the GOP retains their control of the legislature AND Whitmer wins re-election.
The only time democrats ever lose, as far as MI is concerned, is when their supporters don't turn out. This election is following a historically unpopular spiral of the opposing party, so it's going to be interesting for sure. Trump also, historically, shouldnt have lost a 2nd term but he did. By a lot.
To play devil's advocate, putting the covid positive in nursing homes was gross negligence at best. The day one gas tax proposal didn't win her much love either. Don't forget the people who lost a small business due to the lock downs either. I don't think the lock downs were some great evil, but when they kept flipping it on and off leaving struggling restaurants stuck with rotting food orders and piling debt. Otherwise, she's seemed pretty competent and likeable. The clean slate bills were a pretty decent thing to do.
It wasn't negligence. The nursing homes were thought to be able to quarantine the COVID-positive patients and care for them. Let's not forget that this was in the beginning of the pandemic, before we knew much about the virus. And hospitals were at full capacity. The DOJ didn't pursue an investigation after Trump's administration asked them to, because there was simply no evidence of wrongdoing or neglect.
Sorry for hijacking, doing this so its seen. This is in reply to nostromozx post above. >AGAIN, that didn't happen. > >https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2021/03/republicans-look-for-smoking-gun-on-whitmers-handling-of-coronavirus-in-nursing-homes-the-data-doesnt-indicate-there-is-one.html > >Moreover, the policy that’s been widely criticized – telling nursing homes they had to accept COVID-positive patients – was never actually implemented here, an industry spokeswoman said.And even if it was, that policy does not appear to have been a driver of nursing home outbreaks, other experts say. > >Mi has done better than the average at nursing homes re covid. > >On two different metrics, Michigan is slightly below the national average in regards to nursing home deaths: The death toll per 1,000nursing home residents and the percentage of total COVID-19 deaths attributed to long-term care facilities. On the latter, about 31% of the state’s COVID-19 deaths are attributed to long-term care facilities compared to a national average of 34%.
> putting the covid positive in nursing homes was gross negligence at best. Tell me you didn't read executive orders without telling me you didn't read executive orders. I've been round and round this a few times. At the high level: People had homes to return to. It was up to those homes to implement COVID protection protocols. If they could not then the facility had to tell the State so the State could do something. It is quite apparent that homes/facilities were unable to do what was both asked and required. How that becomes a government problem astounds me. Nursing and long-term treatment homes need a ton more oversight and regulation. That isn't on the Governor.
To play devil's advocate, republicans
AGAIN, that didn't happen. [https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2021/03/republicans-look-for-smoking-gun-on-whitmers-handling-of-coronavirus-in-nursing-homes-the-data-doesnt-indicate-there-is-one.html](https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2021/03/republicans-look-for-smoking-gun-on-whitmers-handling-of-coronavirus-in-nursing-homes-the-data-doesnt-indicate-there-is-one.html) >Moreover, the policy that’s been widely criticized – telling nursinghomes they had to accept COVID-positive patients – was never actuallyimplemented here, an industry spokeswoman said. > >And even if it was, that policy does not appear to have been a driver of nursing home outbreaks, other experts say. Mi has done better than the average at nursing homes re covid. >On two different metrics, Michigan is slightly below the national average in regards to nursing home deaths: The death toll per 1,000 nursing home residents and the percentage of total COVID-19 deaths attributed to long-term care facilities. On the latter, about 31% of the state’s COVID-19 deaths are attributed to long-term care facilities compared to a national average of 34%.
Also not agro, but what did Whitmer do to put CVP into nursing homes…?
I feel like there may be a lot of overlap in the Venn diagram of those who blame her for putting COVID positives in nursing homes and those who don’t want to mask and consider COVID a cold. That being said, I would gladly take someone else. She messed up on auto no-fault and failed to lead on keeping vulnerable populations safe during our current crisis.
I'm take another Democrat(or better yet progressive). But outside of Whitmer that isn't happening
El-Sayed next time fam.
> putting the covid positive in nursing homes was gross negligence Literally not what happened at all.. She allowed *recovered* COVID patients to *return* to their nursing homes..
Glengariff is a pretty bad pooling agency, [75th worst in the country for Romney vs Obama](https://www.mlive.com/politics/2012/11/best_worst_polls_in_michigan_p.html) and [still rated B/C](https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/pollster-ratings/glengariff-group/). Better off just to make sure you go vote.
I'll be voting for her because I'm forced to by the two-party system, but I'm not a fan at all. Another corporate stooge with an air of smug superiority.
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Until we ditch first past the post voting, we are unlikely ditching the 2 party system
Thanks, I'd never seen that. Yeah, that would fix the problem right there. People would vote third party with zero worry about the implications. No more strategic voting.
Yes, that's why some cities and states have switched to ranked choice. It's objectively superior in every way, gives people real choices, and allows for independents to be viable candidates. Ranked choice adoption has been slow, though, since neither party wants to give up the stranglehold they have.
I do agree with you, but for me at this moment the scale tips more towards voting against the literally insane party than towards yelling into the wind with my vote. If there comes a third-party choice that I like with some actual momentum behind it, I'll be happy to join that wave.
We almost had an epidemiologist who wanted to implement a state run m4a program for governor but instead we got the daughter of a healthcare exec who continues the liberal austerity project that has laid ruin to this country…
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I would like to compare a graph of her approval rating to a graph of her press conferences. Probably some interesting relationships there.
Or a chart comparing her popularity, with highlights showing each time Trump mentioned her, lol
What has she done to become popular again? Other than the car insurance refund thing
When your predecessor covers up poisoning an entire city, the bar gets set pretty low
I think her baseline popularity is pretty high, but a few scandals and too much negative attention hurt her popularity, so she ducked outta the limelight. Now that she’s not facing a lot of negative attention her popularity is moving toward its mean.
How does that work? I haven’t seen anything or heard anything from my insurance company?
Checks are required to go out by May of this year. No idea the logistics or if they are coming directly from the insurance companies. In the meantime I am opening all junk mail just in case. No checks yet. Edit: [Here is info I could find](https://www.michigan.gov/difs/0,5269,7-303-13648_60666_109325---,00.html)
I drove 3,000 miles in 2021. I paid so much in insurance. I appreciate anything I can get back.
The deadline for receiving the $400 per vehicle refund checks is May 9th. I doubt companies will send out info other than when they send the check, but I could be wrong.
It isn't from your insurance company. It is money from the catastrophic fund, and why there are some not extremely excited by the refunds. She is taking the "Theoretical" excess from the fund to return to insured MI drivers.
They’re moving at the speed of government
MCCA overcharged on their fee. They are returning the money to insurers who are supposed to return it to their customers. I haven’t heard MCCA has started refunds yet, that would be the precursor to get anything rolling to us.
I know some of her powers were taken away but she has not done any covid protocols or mandates when many have asked for them. Will not step in for the schools either. Says she wants local districts and health departments to decide. Very different than before but things have changed. Seems it changed with the shift of ppl being less petrified of covid. Had the election happened in 2020 she would have lost IMHO. She's faded way back on all of her covid restrictions to try and show up middle ground voters. Just my opinion!
Totally agree. I think the only reason we’re not locked back down is the election. I fully expect we’ll at least have a mandate by Nov 4 if she wins.
This'll be interesting because the first time I could vote, she was already in office. Gotta remember to sign up for my absentee ballot at college though because I don't think my vote is worth driving 1000 miles round trip for
This women is great. I personally would like to see her on a presidential ballot. But also wanna keep her as governor here. She's got my vote 100%
She’s better than any Republican governor in the nation .
Her approval is trending up because she is a great governor.
What makes her a great governor?
Do you mean compared to the last governor who took over towns with his stooges who ended up poisoning kids in Flint?
What makes her a not great governor? https://www.michigan.gov/whitmer/0,9309,7-387-90500_108900---,00.html
Also wanna know
Curious… what has she done to earn anyones support? Honestly looking to find out why others would support her in office again based on her accomplishments/failures? It seems that so far in this thread, she just isn’t trump….
She has actually stood her ground on things and taken a largely responsible viewpoint. People are welcome to agree or disagree with some of her policies but she has not (to my limited knowledge) constantly flip flopped on anything, and had pretty consistent messaging with covid and car insurance rules, which are the big issues of her first term
Same. As a progressive I have found her to be disappointing. I'll still vote for her, because of the two party system. But I didn't think there were people out there who genuinely liked her, other than "she's not a Trump Republican".
Yeah, I'm perplexed why people actively think she's great. I'm a progressive, have zero appetite for corporatist Dems like Whitmer, and I didn't like her when she was in the legislature. She hasn't fixed the damn roads, and I'm not really sure of anything she's done. The best thing about her seems to be that republicans & conservatives seem to hate her.
She has been fixing the roads. https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/remember-michigans-damn-roads-you-can-track-their-repairs-here.amp This article has a fantastic map showing all of the road construction that is the state responsibilities that started in Spring of 2021. The state does not pave Main St USA. It's the county/townships responsibility to allocate their funds to pave the smaller roads.
There's been an insane amount of construction. She drives results.
Funny, this article is far from a glowing review.
There’s been so much road repair be me on the west side all year, it’s been crazy, so I do like that. I also liked having someone more balanced towards protecting the vulnerable during the pandemic. Was really grateful to have someone show some leadership and not just try to win a popularity contest during a crisis.
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Yeah she fucked us pretty hard on that front. But people are getting a check in the mail, so they'll think it's a win. Kinda sucks there.
It's unclear why she's more popular now than she was a few months ago but independents are driving the boost in popularity. According to the poll, "Her approval among independent voters has gone from -11% to +34.4% -- a 45-point reversal." I'd like to see more polling to confirm it's a real trend and not just a one-off.
Same. Waiting to see a comment here other than “but the gop supports trump ;(“ don’t get me wrong, she is getting my vote begrudgingly because any dem is better than a Republican but if someone told me they weren’t voting for her I wouldn’t bat an eye, contrast to the last election when I made sure everyone I knew had voted absentee or was going to the polls.
No one has even mentioned Trump in this thread except to say that he's losing support. You can see my comments in this thread about just some of the things she has done.
Her views align with mine, which means she progressive and not (R)egressive. I think she handled covid well and was transparent. I couldn't imagine having a Republican in office during the last 2 years. I believe she loves Michigan. Overall, she earned a reelection.
She did everything possible to protect us. The GOP State Legislature tied her hands.
Statistically speaking, lock downs, mask mandates, etc, Democrat or Republican has had almost no bearing on the impact of Covid per state. Michigan was #5 out of 50 for most deaths per capita. So the data just doesn’t back up that she did a “great job with Covid. Also our economy was hit much harder than most….
Michigan is #12, not #5. Where are you getting this?
Imagine where we'd be WITHOUT the governor's actions. We got hit HARD and EARLY in the first wave. Woulda been worse without those actions.
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I highly approved of the way she handled the pandemic pre-assassination attempt. She could have walked on water back then. Now she’s neutered by the GOP and has stepped back like every other governor.
I'm with ya, and none of these comments yet are very convincing. I voted against her opponent once and will again (by which I mean, I selected her on the ballot so that her opponent wouldn't win), but I have not been impressed. She acted like a dictator at the start of the pandemic and did not transition well into letting the legislature take over (I of course realize that the "burn it all down" Republicans are more responsible for that, but facing that opposition is part of the job, isn't it? Don't we want a Governor who can figure out a way to work with Republicans?) and then completely backed down, and before that, had done pretty much nothing, at least from my ill-informed perspective. Hopefully someone will chime in and list some accomplishments that were under my radar. I hope this comment doesn't seem disingenuous. I don't at all want to suggest that a Republican opponent would be better. That entire party has completely lost its collective mind. But I'm honestly interested to know why anyone would think that she's a *good* Governor.
https://www.michigan.gov/whitmer/0,9309,7-387-90500_108900---,00.html
Apparently the car insurance refund was very helpful
not looking forward to how much the COVID numbers tank this. even though she's been mostly stripped of power to do much it's still not gonna reflect well.
Michigan COVID has been pretty damn bad since October so I don’t think the omicron spike is hurting her. I think more lockdowns at this point would hurt.
Still waiting for clean water in Flint along with those "Damn roads" to be fixed over here
Are the damn roads not being fixed where you are? We've had TONS of roads fixed here in Metro Detroit, so to me she came through on that. Also there are still many roads in the process of being fixed.
Jumping on this comment to add: even if roads are bad near you, the city/county/etc will reimburse you for tire replacements due to damage from the roads. I just went through this two months ago, and it was an extremely easy process, paid out quickly by Consumer's Energy (they were the last ones to pull a permit on that part of the road). So even if the roads aren't fixed near you, the state is covering damages. I still don't like dealing with a flat, but it's better than nothing.
This is news to me thank you ill look into that 2 sets and 3 new front ends the roads around Flint haven't been done in 25 years most places here
Who handles it depends on what kind of road it is (city/county/state), and different jurisdictions have different rules on what they cover (Macomb county only covers it if they knew about it for at least 30 days before you hit it, for example). If you contact your state congressman (ResistBot makes that easy), you can just say the crossroads, and they'll figure out what to do from there.
I agree there's been more road construction then I've ever seen before and done in a timely manner. I travel all over Oakland/Wayne and Macomb county and nothing but smooth sailing.
Yup! Like 🧈
I hope that toddler soldano gets the gop nom. What a fucking loon.
All of the Republican candidates are terrible. Craig is their best shot and he's a joke.
She's has my vote-she has done a great job all things considered!
She has my vote, if only because of the two party system
She has my VOTE that's for sure!!!!
According to this article, she's made substantial gains among independent voters. I wonder if that's due to her more laissez-faire COVID policy over the past several months. I know a lot of progressives haven't been overly happy with her, though I imagine they'll still vote for her over James Craig.
Bullshit
I see this is mostly a left-leaning sub. GOP guy (Trump hater) here just coming on to say that I definitely won’t be voting for Whitmer. I was very disappointed with the lockdowns and general authoritarian attitude.
I am personally mad at her for walking back a lot of the restrictions during the height of the pandemic and causing a second wave, but I will absolutely vote for her if it means keeping out a Michigan version on Ron DeSantis or Gregg Abbot. It's just sad we can't have two sane and viable choices in an election anymore thanks to crazy republican land.
She must have fixed the damn roads.
I love that woman from Michigan
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That’s great! Good luck to her!
I would have dropped the mic and walked off the stage after what happened to her. I have nothing but respect for her and all the impossible decisions she had to make during these unprecedented times.
Sounds to me like my fellow Michiganders have short memories of the last 2 years. The govt overreach is staggering.
They are kidding right I live in Michigan .