Michigan voters pull away from Trump over tariffs

We don't need cars made in Canada. We don't need cars made in Mexico. We want to make them here. Donald Trump has used tariffs to enforce that thinking. They've hurt on both sides of the border. Thousands of Canadian jobs gone. U.S. automakers hemorrhaging billions. And White House officials are warning Canada not to interfere in these midterms. If you interfere in our elections in Maine or Michigan, you will pay even more dearly. If Trump's intent was to hurt Canada with tariffs, has he ended up hurting himself? I don't think there's any question. So you have two clients right now, and what level is the race? I've got congressional race. We met up with Jason Roe at his home. He's one of Michigan's top Republican campaign strategists. But these midterms, he says, are tough. We probably feel the effects of the trade fight with Canada more than any other state, given our cultural and economic ties with Canada. Who do people blame for that? Well, I mean, they're clearly blaming Donald Trump and they're blaming the Republicans. I mean, this is a bellwether state and has been for a few years now. Control of Congress and control of the Senate could very well be decided right here in Michigan. You're hearing somebody who has cheerlead again. A Canadian tariff policy that we are paying $5,600 a year for. Michigan's Senate race is considered one of the most contested in the country. It pits the Republican Mike Rogers against the Democrat Abdul El-Sayed. Abdul El-Sayed is a real threat to our national security. The GOP has labeled El-Sayed a Muslim radical, a socialist. It hasn't hurt him because voters mostly want to talk about the cost of living. No dumb tariffs. Stop. It's not just the Dems either. The Republican candidate realizing the tariffs have hurt his odds is out with this. Drinking a Labatt and watching the Red Wings. Man, it just doesn't get any more Michigan than that. And here in Michigan, we know that Canada is not our enemy. We need to end this tariff war now. What does it tell you that he had to put out an ad at this point in the campaign? I think a lot of Republicans are looking to create some separation from an unpopular president. Trump usually demands loyalty and punishes those who criticize him. Near the campus of Michigan State University in Lansing, MAGA-supporting college students are in their final push. So guys, today we're going to be doing some door knocking for Tom Barrett. They're preparing responses in case they hear complaints about prices driven higher by trade and shooting wars. Tom Barrett, along with Mike Rogers at the Senate level, is working to look at the Canadian tariffs and see which ones are costing Michiganders to reduce those. We were just outdoor knocking today, seeing if you guys have a plan to vote yet. They'd prefer to talk about something else. It's more about just how crazy the Democrats have gotten. I think they've really jumped the shark with candidates like Abdul El-Sayed and Will Lawrence that are just so far to the left. These are people who have been defunding the police for years. These are people who hate America. Some of these young men are serving or have in the U.S. military. Only one of them proposes this solution for Canada-U.S. tensions. I think we need to influence them to become a state because I think we'd be stronger as the United States of America and be a full America, get Mexico and Canada to come together and let's dominate the world. But polling suggests voters in Michigan and nationally are largely focused on making life more affordable. Are people making that connection? Are they saying Trump's tariffs are increasing my cost of living? Yes, they understand tariffs. But in the political scene, we just say it's cost of living. We caught up with longtime pollster Ed Siropoulos at a bakery in Detroit. He tells us not all voters understand tariffs but most now believe they're contributing to higher costs. Every family was costing them above the national average of almost $6,000 a year in additional costs. Now we've got parents and even the kids saying, I don't know if I'm going to do better than you, Dad. And who are they blaming for that? Right now, it's Donald Trump. It's the war on the economy, yes. Basically, the whole Republican Party is being accused of it. At Michigan's main auto association, they want a stronger industry, and today they're meeting to discuss how the midterms could play out, but say tariffs aren't the way to achieve strength. The argument is being made by the Trump administration, we want manufacturing to happen here. If a car is going to be owned by an American, it should be built in America. We want more manufacturing, but we in Michigan do not want that at the expense of our partnership and our trade relationship with Canada. Glenn Stevens heads up a group of auto lobbyists, Mish Auto. He says the tariffs have been a nightmare of unpredictability. This is a highly complex industry, global supply chain, thousands of parts come together to build an automobile. And it only takes one part to cause a disruption to that. And so we see financial stress in the system, too, because of this. He believes America should have a beef, but not with Canada. The companies in the automotive industry around the world use a phrase, they call it China speed, because they can develop a full concept to delivered product in a dealer showroom in 18 months. And that's the benchmark now. Among Trump's most faithful, Canada should be a target, insisting free trade has destroyed American manufacturing. What this administration has announced in the past several weeks is the most amazing series of new industrial investments that perhaps this nation has ever seen. Susan Kojinda hosts a YouTube show from her home studio telling her viewers that U.S. voters should prioritize long-term economic fortunes. And that the current price pains will be short-term. So your argument is the tariff strategy will work. It will work. But is it going to affect people in time for the midterms? If anything, it's probably affecting them negatively in the short term. So you have that tension between whether people are going to walk in and cast their votes from the standpoint of, what do I feel today? Or cast their votes from the standpoint of, I want the Michigan that we had in the 50s and the 60s and the 70s to come back. Susan goes further, echoing some of Trump's messaging on the reason for his tariffs. Well, as our trade representative Jamieson Greer pointed out, after Liberation Day, when President Trump imposed tariffs to begin to even the balances, the only two countries that retaliated were China and Canada. So draw your own conclusions. This race could very well come down to less than 10,000 votes. These students know how crucial it is to get supporters enthusiastic about voting. Michigan may end up being the deciding factor in the control of Congress.