OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. (WXYZ) — As we round out the last week before Election Day, both presidential candidates are hitting the campaign trail hard in a final push to win over swing state voters.
Battleground Michigan is at the top of both President Trump and Joe Biden’s stumping calendar.
The president will be in Waterford Township Friday for a Make America Great Again Victory Rally after making a stop in Lansing earlier this week. He's scheduled to speak at 1 p.m. at the Oakland County International Airport before heading to Wisconsin. Doors open at 10 a.m.
Joe Biden will travel to Michigan on Saturday, where he'll be joined by former President Barack Obama.
“The purpose of the visits are to ramp up enthusiasm and to make sure that people who already support the candidates show up," said Dr. Marjorie Sarbaugh-Thompson, a political science professor at Wayne State University.
The president and challenger Joe Biden also campaigned in Florida this week, another key swing state, with Trump — touting new GDP numbers.
“They say talk about your economic success. Talk about 33.1%, the greatest in history," said the president.
Biden’s messaging centers on the struggles of more record unemployment and surges in COVID-19 cases around the country.
“Millions of people out there are out of work, on the edge, can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, and Donald Trump has given up," said Joe Biden.
President Trump – no stranger to sparring with our state’s current governor – took aim at former Governor Rick Snyder via Twitter Thursday, calling him a Republican in name only after Snyder announced on Fox he has already voted outside his party.
“We shouldn’t let partisanship get in the way of good decision making for our country and Joe Biden is a much better decision than Donald Trump," Snyder said on Fox.
“Michigan looks fairly good for Biden, I would say," said Dr. Marjorie Sarbaugh-Thompson. "That was the case in 2016 also with Clinton, so I think everybody is being a little more cautious about their confidence in polls.”
Voter turnout in Michigan is expected to be historic.
The SOS office says 2.1 million absentee ballots in Michigan have already been returned. Another million requested.
We’re on track for voter participating levels that we haven’t seen since 2008.