Voters in Michigan are reacting to President Biden’s decision to end his campaign for a second term in office. Biden has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as a nominee ahead of the Democratic National Convention next month.
WKAR spoke to Democrats in the mid-Michigan region to ask whether Biden’s decision will affect their vote.
Diana Rivera, a 70-year-old living in Okemos, says Biden ultimately made the right choice.
“It's bittersweet. Really, I think for me and how everything came at him all in a short period of time,” she said. “His noticeably physical slowdown, and then he got COVID and the Democrats were really calling for him to step down.”
Rivera says by nominating Harris, Biden is making room for the new generation of the Democratic party.
The president's decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race is prompting some support from mid-Michigan progressives as the Democratic Party looks for a replacement candidate just 15 weeks ahead of Election Day.
Jesse Estrada White is a 21-year-old student living in East Lansing and says he’s been wanting Biden to drop out of the race for months.
“He just doesn't have that progressive agenda that that young people want that working class people need,” said Estrada-White. “I think he definitely made the right decision by dropping out and I think it allows us to push for a more progressive agenda, a more hopeful vision for the future in 2024 and beyond.”
Estrada White says if Harris wants his vote her platform needs to focus on working class everyday people.
“I was always going to vote against the Republican Party. Biden dropping out has definitely made that easier for me,” says Estrada White. “But what that vote looks like I don't know my mind isn’t made up yet because the Democratic Party is still actively supporting genocide in Palestine.”
Independent voters in Michigan are considering their choices after President Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race.
Juan Martinez from Okemos identified as an independent until former President Donald Trump ran in 2016, prompting him to vote for the Democratic party. Martinez says Biden should not have dropped out.
“I think the party owes it to itself and to people to come up with a process of how that's going to take place,” he said. “I’d hate to see a whole repeat of what just took place.”
Biden’s decision to drop out is exciting some voters in Michigan. Sonya Hernandez, a 52-year-old educator, says Biden made the right call and she’s ready for Harris 2024.
“He showed his true patriotism and his true love for this country, understanding and recognizing that the poll numbers weren't where they needed to be,” Hernandez added.
Michigan is a battleground swing state expected to determine the outcome of November’s presidential election. In 2020, Biden won the presidential election in the state by less than 200,000 votes.
