My repeated drives through rural and suburban Michigan.

[roamer65]

Last edited Mon Sep 7, 2020, 05:48 PM - Edit history (2)

There are a lot of Dump flags and signs along my journeys through mostly white, rural low population MI. It dies out VERY quickly once I enter higher population suburban and urban areas in SE Michigan.

SE Michigan (aka metro Detroit) contains by far the largest amount of voters in the state. My gut tells me we are going to see a very polarized rural vs urban/suburban divide in November.

BUT, we will win this state for Biden/Harris in the suburbs in Michigan, IMO.

[pwb]

1. Here it is mostly people who work for Republicans that have signs.

County workers in counties run by pukes are told put it out or get fired kind of thing. Forced sign display. Many are Democrats.

[cwydro]

5. That seems odd. I worked in a Republican county for years.

No one ever told me to do such a thing.

No one even commented on my obvious status as a member of the Democratic Party either.

[DownriverDem]

28. Live in SE Michigan

We have signs for Biden, Sen Peters and my Rep Debbie Dingell.

[roamer65]

35. DEBBIE!

She is a great Rep. I hope I don’t lose her in the 2021 redraw. That one will be done by the new independent commission.

[greenman3610]

2. recent drives in rural Central Michigan

surprising number of Biden/Harris signs, along with Trump.

[roamer65]

3. Good.

I see a lot of Dump in the area about 100 miles due north of Detroit. It fades out fast as it morphs into burbs.

[safeinOhio]

10. This week they went up.

The party brought me a couple of signs and must have been busy. This week even on country roads I saw them. Way more than Hillary signs 4 years ago. I drive the roads between Lansing and the bridge.

[SWBTATTReg]

4. I've yet to see a single trump sign in MO, but I am in STLMO. But still, that's a wonderful thing.

The PINO is on his way out, and I can't wait.

[roamer65]

6. The rural vs urban/suburban divide.

It really showed up in MI in 2018.

The Democrats captured nearly all of the metro Detroit congressional seats and we elected a Democratic Governor, AG and SoS. All 3 are women.



I see the trend continuing.

[George II]

16. I've driven around the country (mostly NE and Midwest) a lot over the years. Two things stick out...

....on trips in October.

One time I drove from Cleveland down to Lexington, and back. In Cleveland there were predominantly Democratic signs, as I got to Columbus they were mixed and in Cincinnati mostly republican.

Another time I was driving from Toronto to NYC. From Buffalo to somewhere near Utica they were mostly republican, then suddenly changed to Democratic for the rest of the trip.

Amazing how in each case I was in a single state and the politics changed so drastically from one part of the states to the other.

[roamer65]

29. Ohio elections are always a north-south battle.

Toledo and Cleveland are Rust Belt cities, whereas Cincinnati area is more like Kentucky.

[certainot]

34. the captive and near captive audiences of talk radio and the secondary and tertiary audiences

reached by the husband, father, grandfather.

the pollsters/analysts will figure it out when they finally poll trump supporters for talk radio listening - they haven't yet even tho its about the most obvious possible connection

it is never polled yet at $1000/hr 1200 radio stations x 15 hrs/day is equivalent to $90mil/week. and those stations are locally coordinated for gop and think tanks

states probably average 30 rw stations/state. they reach everywhere except the cities - what areas of the state are dominated by a few rw stations, where the weather, sports, news is free while you're driving around or working?

[George II]

37. That brings up another thing - driving each year from the NY Metro area to Toronto....

...once I'm near Albany and to the west, all one can get is right wing talk radio. Hit "scan" and you go from one station with Limbaugh to another one, and another one. Not to mention local right wing idiots, too.

[certainot]

43. that's it. unfortunately most media and political 'leaders' live in big cities and can't read radio

artificial intelligence makes it easy now to digitize talk radio - but it's not being done

the social media cos are spending billions trying to ID trolls and most of the effective stuff piggybacks talk radio repetition - they could save a lot of money

if limbaugh keeps repeating it - look for that

michigan is a talk radio state and - mich state 11 anad u mich 7 support 18 limbaugh stations!

[roman88]

7. I've seen Biden signs popping up more near the Woodward corridor :-)

I think Macomb County is still Ground Zero for Trump in MI though. Fitting considering it's such a tacky suburban cul-de-sac hellhole. :/

[roamer65]

8. Yeah Macomb tends to lean Repuke.

But I think it will split more evenly his time.

I think we are gonna run up the D vote in the other areas of SE Michigan.

[DownriverDem]

30. Many moved

from Detroit and now the next generation is carrying on the racist point of view.

[roamer65]

31. I love my township.

In between Ann Arbor and the west burbs.

Routinely goes 65-75 pct Democratic.

Debbie Dingell is my Rep.

[demmiblue]

36. Macomb is purple (and kind of strange, electorally).

They voted for...

Obama 2008 & 2012
Gore 2000
Clinton 1996

[roamer65]

38. It leans just slightly Repuke.

Very fickle area. A more centrist candidate usually does well there, from either side.

I consider 2016 an outlier.

[demmiblue]

39. Last election, yes. Previous elections, no.

The next, I am not really sure.

[llmart]

40. i drove around Macomb today.

I didn't go very far, but from what I saw there are very few lawn signs at all. Of course, as usual, any Trump signs had to be 50' tall (why aren't there ordinances regulating how big the signs can be?). I only saw two Biden signs, about four Trump signs and mostly no signs. I remember 2016 and who had the Trump signs, both residential and business. None of the businesses I passed had a political sign. These are not big corporations - just small probably family owned businesses. The ones that had Trump signs in 2016 (and the reason I remember them is that I made it a point of deciding they would never get my business again) have no signs this time. Maybe they finally got a clue that Trump is not good for getting customers.

I agree with you that Macomb is purple. In my sub, which is mostly white collar, college educated, the neighbors I know personally are all voting for Biden. I know of two who are voting for Trump. One is a 50-something guy with a big pickup truck, no education and runs a gas station. He's one of the worst homeowners in our sub because he does not follow any of the HOA's rules and regulations. The other ne is a woman near me who is about as dumb as a box of rocks and I even doubt she graduated from high school. Also, she's usually inebriated most of the time so there's that.

For the record, there's corruption in the county offices and it's a good old boy network.

[muntrv]

19. Ah Macomb County. Home of the "Reagan Democrat."

[lpbk2713]

9. I'm in Central Florida, I-4 Corridor.

I've been seeing a lot more Biden/Harris signs in yards lately.

[zipplewrath]

12. They're just coming out

If you go into the upscale areas (like Winter Park) you'll see plenty of Trump signs. And you'll see them on random pickup trucks with confederate flags on them. Not sure what's going on in the Winter Haven to Plant City section of I-4.

[llmart]

41. I'm surprised.

I've been to Winter Park and I would have never thought it was Trump territory.

[zipplewrath]

44. Got Money, got Republican

It's a common side effect of afluenza.

[Qutzupalotl]

11. If the past is any indication,

Republicans will try to suppress urban votes by removing machines and polling places. Expect long lines if you vote in person.

If possible, maybe organize “line placeholders” with identifiable T-shirts, to let people take bathroom breaks while waiting without losing their place in line. Maybe hand out water and/or snacks. Hopefully team Biden is already thinking of things like this.

[roamer65]

13. Michigan is now basically a mail in/drop off voting state.

We passed no excuse absentee balloting in 2018.

I plan on filling mine out and dropping it off ASAP.

Election Day poll lines will be a lot shorter.

[gristy]

15. Yes - "Republicans will try to suppress urban votes by removing machines and polling places"

Your suggested solution is somewhat helpful to the individuals in line but, more significantly, doesn't solve the turnout problem caused by the many people arriving at their polling place but not having time or interest or confidence in their health safety to wait in line to cast their vote.

[Beachnutt]

14. I am in the Dallas Ft worth Area and

in the mid cities near Dallas Cowboys stadium and surrounding there are no democrat signs at all, the big Vote republican signs are everywhere but not one democrat sign.
I rode down to the Beaumont Tx area the other day to the beach from DFW and saw trump crap everywhere and only 2 Biden/Harris signs and one of those was home made..
Where the hell is our Party on this ?
Why no signs?
Let's organize a NATIONAL BIDEN/HARRIS CORVETTE PARADE.
So sick of the trump crap everywhere that I bought 100 Biden/Harris mask and BYEDON mask and have been guving them away .

[Ananda62]

20. My sister said the same thing

She lives in Carrollton TX and went on a motorcycle ride with her husband yesterday. She was upset to see so many Trump yard signs. However, I saw a Twitter post today showing lines of cars in Dallas waiting to get Biden/Harris yard signs. Maybe there’s hope?

I live in Las Vegas and haven’t seen any yard signs, but I haven’t been getting out much.

[roamer65]

33. Consistently polls are neck and neck in TX.

Let’s hope Austin and Houston win it for Biden.

[muntrv]

17. Yesterday, while driving on Ford road in Canton, I saw a

Ford Escape with Trump flags and a sign on the roof saying "Auto Workers For Trump." Outside of that, I see more Biden signs than Trump.

[roamer65]

26. Head over to Beck and Warren or around there.

If you head south on Beck, you will see it.

There is someone with a huge Trump sign that got tagged.

I didn’t do it, but I saw it and laughed my ass off.

[llmart]

42. I would think that general area is more Democratic.

I lived in Plymouth for awhile and that plus Ann Arbor would make me believe residents tend to be liberal.

[LessAspin]

18. South of Ithaca

North of St John's there were a couple of farms with Biden signs. As you note however those were the exception.

Did the Trump regime send huge Trump signs and flags to Farmers along with their bailout? Of course a bailout/government handout necessitated by Trump's failed trade war.

Link to tweet

[AllaN01Bear]

21. i live on the west slopes of the sierra nevada in california. seen lots of trump

stickers on trucks and or cars . some biden /harris . saw my first open biden / harris sign on a main drag into a major shopping area. 101 degrees f. we are to loose power at midnight to nite depending on winds .

[spinbaby]

22. Trump stuff has been more available

Trump signs have been up for quite some time here in southwestern PA. I’ve just started seeing Biden signs in the last week or so. I’m still waiting for mine to arrive.

[Johnny2X2X]

23. Suburban West Michigan here

Amazing the amount of Biden signs. Very few Trump signs until you get out into farm country.

[roamer65]

24. Same here.

Amazing how stupid farmers really are. Dump ruins their export markets and yet they still bow to their orange idol.

[mahannah]

25. Very few trump signs in Kalamazoo.

[roamer65]

27. ..

[GreenEyedLefty]

32. DH is from Owosso. His mom still lives there.

We are both surprised at how few Dump signs we have seen in that highly conservative area. It's almost like voters there are saying something with their silence. Hoping that "silence" translates into Biden votes.

[Wounded Bear]

45. Urban/rural divide has been with us for decades...

It's where the suburbs lean that will decide this.