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Kent County could be a bellwether for who wins Michigan

FOX 17 spoke with four voters in a Kent County suburb north of Grand Rapids.
Posted at 9:57 PM, Nov 01, 2020
and last updated 2020-11-01 22:27:31-05

President Donald Trump is finishing his 2020 re-election campaign in Kent County once again. The President is scheduled to hold a rally at Gerald Ford International Airport Monday night.

There's a good reason President Trump is choosing to finish his campaign in Kent County, where voters could ultimately indicate who will win the presidency Tuesday.

Michigan was an important state for him back in 2016. He carried it by just over 10,000 votes or 1% total statewide and won Kent County by 3% or just over 9,000 votes.

This year many experts are calling Kent County a, "bellwether," which could very much point to who wins the entire race.

The county as a whole has historically been a GOP stronghold, but is trending bluer as of late.

FOX 17 knocked on doors and spoke with four voters who live within just blocks of each other in a Kent County suburb north of Grand Rapids.

I think right now our country needs somebody that can heal the country, and also take the pandemic straight on, because trump is not doing a thing to help with the pandemic,” Nancy Cook told FOX 17 after casting her ballot for Joe Biden.

Two Biden supporters we spoke with cited President Trump’s handling of the pandemic as the number one reason they want him out of office.

Retired union worker Robert Zimmerman says healthcare is second to that.

We have got to change course here, we’ve got to. The virus thing is just out of hand. It's scary, I’ve been scared for months,” Zimmermand said.

Many Trump supporters, like 76 year-old veteran Fred Baumberger, take issue with affordable care act, saying it has to go.

“The Democrats are never going to get rid of Obamacare. If we're going to kill it, we're going to have to kill it with Trump,” Baumberger said.

Roger Johnson says Biden’s stance on abortion is a non-starter.

“That is the main reason I vote for Trump and Vice President Mike Pence,” Johnson said.

And as residents of the battleground county of Kent, all four are confident their vote will be going to the eventual winner.

“Oh yeah, not a problem,” Baumberger said when asked if the President will win Kent County again.

“I think it will change this year, I think that Biden will take Kent County, now you can put it on record,” Nancy Cook said.

All four voters we spoke with emphasized how important they felt the election is this year in comparison to past years.