The majority of Michigan voters aren’t too excited to hop on the woke train, even as their governor climbs aboard.
According to data from the Michigan GOP and Victory Modeling, only around one in five Michiganders fully support woke ideas such as defunding the police, social media censorship, transgender athletes in women’s sports, and Critical Race Theory. Of the nearly 20,000 potential voters surveyed by the party from April through the end of September, nearly 40% stood strongly opposed to woke culture. Another 40% stood in the middle, accepting some woke terminology while opposing other woke ideas.
The Michigan Republican Party is hoping to use the data it has collected to create messaging that hits home with voters across the state as the 2022 election season flies into its final week.
“Given the massive cash advantage the Democrats had, we knew we had to invest in a data program early to ensure we were making the best use out of the funds we did have, in large part thanks to Chairman [Ronald] Weiser’s $5 million investment into the Party,” Michigan GOP Chief of Staff Paul Cordes said in a statement to The Daily Wire.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) has taken heat during her 2022 re-election campaign for comments she made about defunding the police during protests and riots in the summer of 2020. During an Instagram live interview with The Root in June 2020, Whitmer said she supported “the spirit” of the “defund the police” movement.
“It’s really about reprioritizing and rebuilding communities, not just policing. That this is really about where do we, where do we prioritize our resources,” she said, according to Click on Detroit. “You look at budgets and they’re focused on policing — they should be focused on education, transportation, access to health care, access to skills and leveling the playing field.”
“I think you do all those other things, you don’t need all the money that’s going to the police departments. So, yeah, I mean, the spirit of it, I do support that spirit of it,” Whitmer added.
The governor attempted to clarify her position on the issue last month, saying that defunding the police is “dangerous and foolish.” In a press release, the governor also highlighted a $1 billion investment to fund police, fire, and first responders in a budget approved by a Republican-majority legislature and signed by Whitmer in July.
Two years later, the Democratic governor was criticized for pushing another woke term; this one about sexuality. In a Zoom interview with the Michigan Democratic Party in July, Whitmer was discussing an amendment to the state’s constitution to protect abortion rights when she referred to women as “menstruating people.” The term has gained popularity on the Left from LGBTQ activists and politicians who seek to avoid offending biological men who identify as female.
After the remark, Whitmer was blasted by her Republican opponent and gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon who said it was more evidence of the Democratic Party going “insane.”
Michigan Republicans also came out with an ad Wednesday targeting the governor’s comments about the “defund the police” movement as well as Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel’s record on crime.
“Over the last four months, not only have we had a message that is resonating with voters, but we were able to use our modeling to create audiences of voters who needed to hear it and deliver it to them in an extremely effective manner,” Cordes added. “We were able to use these models to influence millions of dollars in spending in our digital, TV, streaming and mail plans.”