Michigan swing voters fear Canada tariffs will raise prices — SkimNews
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- NPR convened two online sessions Wednesday night with 13 Michigan voters who backed Biden in 2020 and Trump in 2024; 11 said the Canada trade war would hurt the state, and none identified a positive.
- Nine of the 13 voters said they were personally worried about how Trump's tariffs would hit prices on specific products, and eight said they feel more economically anxious than they did before Trump returned to office.
- Voters raised concrete local impacts — Canadian-made shampoo and alcohol getting pricier, and reduced truck traffic at the Gordie Howe Bridge, which just opened — as evidence the tariffs would damage both households and border commerce.
- Rich Thau, president of messaging firm Engagious, told NPR the tariff pain feels 'proximate' to Michigan voters and said the group is 'not in a happy mood' over costs, with tariffs 'adding more fuel to the fire.'
- Samantha, a 31-year-old independent who voted for Trump, said she backed him specifically to fix the economy but now finds middle-class staples — food, gas — more expensive, the clearest expression of buyer's remorse in the group.
- Sylvia and David — a Democrat and a self-identified MAGA independent — both said Trump's decision to rename Lake Ontario as 'Lake America' was ego-driven and distracted from the affordability work voters expected.
Why it matters: In a state where the closely watched Senate race could decide chamber control, 11 of 13 voters who flipped from Biden to Trump told NPR the Canada tariff fight will hurt Michigan, and even a self-identified MAGA voter joined Democrats in calling the Lake Ontario rename an ego-driven distraction from the affordability crisis Trump was elected to fix.
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