Michigan’s Minority Voters: Lukewarm On Biden, But ‘Damn Sure Don’t Want Trump’

Enlarge this image

Joe Biden shops at Three Thirteen, a Detroit apparel store on Sept. 9. Biden is hoping Black and brown voters can help propel him to victory in Michigan, a state narrowly won by Trump in 2016.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

hide caption

toggle caption

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

2020 Election: Secure Your Vote
Despite Surge In Volunteers, Some Swing States Still Need Poll Workers

Elections
NPR Electoral Map: Biden Lead Widens Again With Less Than A Month To Go

Elections
Amid Trump Turmoil, Sen. Susan Collins Tries To Shift Focus From National Politics

But after seeing Donald Trump in power for nearly four years, activists and voters say politics feels more perilous. COVID-19 has hit communities like Detroit particularly hard; a disproportionate number of Black voters have lost a relative or known someone personally diagnosed with COVID. For them, the 2020 election is a referendum on the president’s response to a crisis that has already claimed the lives of more than 213,000 Americans. The disillusionment some voters felt in 2016 has been replaced with outright anger directed at the president and his administration.

«A lot of people didn’t like Hillary Clinton. Let’s be honest,» said Ken Whittaker with the Michigan People’s Campaign, a progressive group that endorsed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the primaries but then decided to back Biden this summer. «I’m not gonna say everybody likes Joe Biden, but there is a much better understanding that progress doesn’t always mean running 10 blocks forward. Sometimes progress is stopping your slide going 20 blocks backwards.»

«This year feels different»

In the last presidential election, Zeinab Chami, a 36-year-old high school English teacher in Dearborn, Mich., voted third party.

«This year feels different, it feels like there’s more at stake,» Chami said. «There’s a possibility that I’ll vote for Biden. And that possibility of voting for Clinton did not exist in 2016 I’ll tell you.»

Chami is torn between voting for Biden and leaving the top of the ticket blank.

Enlarge this image

«The only reason I’m even considering an establishment Democrat is because the current president is such a morally repugnant person,» says Zeinab Chami, an English teacher in Dearborn, Mich.

Asma Khalid/NPR

hide caption

toggle caption

Asma Khalid/NPR

Enlarge this image

«If [Trump] won again, then there would be no resistance to a progressive candidate next time,» says Detroit resident Michael Cushman.

Asma Khalid/NPR

hide caption

toggle caption

Asma Khalid/NPR

Enlarge this image

«I know that people are terrified of Trump, but I don’t feel like being a little bit better than Trump is good enough for me,» says El Jay Parker, 33.

Asma Khalid/NPR

hide caption

toggle caption

Asma Khalid/NPR

«I know that people are terrified of Trump, but I don’t feel like being a little bit better than Trump is good enough for me,» says El Jay Parker, 33.

Asma Khalid/NPR

The Democratic presidential nominee is not as progressive as Parker would like on issues of health care and criminal justice reform. Neither was Clinton, he admits, but he felt like when she was pressured from the left, she was willing to move, whether or not she genuinely agreed.

«With Biden, throughout his campaign, with town halls and interactions with people, he doesn’t seem like he’s going to budge,» said Parker. He was turned off seeing the former vice president spar with a couple of voters during the primaries.

«Any time that he’s challenged, he just tells you, ‘I’m not the guy for you. Go vote for someone else,'» said Parker. «If you’re running for president and you want my vote and you’re not willing to listen to my concerns, then why do I owe you my vote, regardless if there’s Trump there or not?»

• biden
• trump
• Michigan