Inside the Republican strategy that could cost Kamala Harris this crucial swing state

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Of all the swing states in the US election, Michigan is the one Kamala Harris should have in the bag but doesn’t seem to. Instead, the polls are neck and neck. This must win state for the democrats feels very much up for grabs.

Transcript

00:00This West Michigan campaign office is a long way from Middle Earth, but the fellowship

00:09of the Democrats is too strong for the Lord of the Rings actor, Sean Astin, to stay away.

00:14I'm campaigning for Kamala Harris for president. Why?

00:17I'm here because if I'm lucky to live to be an old man and have grandchildren, they're

00:22going to sit on my knee and I'm going to tell them about this moment when America elected

00:26its first woman president.

00:28But it will take more than stars and cardboard Kamalas to win here. Local Democrat congresswoman

00:35Hilary Skolton says her party is vulnerable.

00:39We need to acknowledge the ways that we have not shown up for people in real ways.

00:43And how do people feel maybe the Democrats haven't done what they wanted?

00:46I mean on rising costs and inflation.

00:49Having won Michigan in 2016, largely with support from the white working class, now

00:55Donald Trump is going hard after African-American voters too.

01:00Kwame Kilpatrick was once the mayor of Detroit and a Democrat.

01:05In 2021, seven years into a 28-year prison term for corruption crimes, then President

01:13Trump commuted Kilpatrick's sentence.

01:16My house was on fire. My wife and all my children were in it. We couldn't get out. A firefighter

01:22kicked in the front door and the firefighter pulled up his mask and it was Donald Trump.

01:27Both he and Trump are convicted fans. Something they believe is a vote winner for the Republican

01:34candidate among some African-Americans.

01:37Inequity and prosecution and sentencing is something that's been going on in America

01:41for a long time. But Donald Trump, now people in the community feel that somebody who's

01:45experienced it be better prepared to meet it and try to change it.

01:49They might be right. A recent poll shows one in four young black men support the former

01:55president.

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