Opinion: Why is Trump up in Michigan? I’ll tell you what I’m hearing.

DETROIT — You never know what you will hear from former President Donald Trump. He’s notorious for riffing and losing track of his teleprompter. 
His speech Thursday at the Detroit Economic Club, which I attended, was no different. Trump stretched what could have easily been a 30-minute automotive-related policy speech into a two-hour event that covered a lot of ground. 
Yet, the members of the elite Detroit club, composed of business and other community leaders, seemed to thoroughly enjoy what they heard. They told me as much afterward.
The roughly 1,000 attendees applauded throughout and laughed at Trump’s jokes. And they appreciated what he said about protecting U.S. jobs and creating more fair trade relationships, all while lowering taxes and regulations. 
That’s not what got portrayed in the news coverage of the meeting. 
If you listen only to the mainstream news media – many of whom hate Trump with a passion – you may think that all Trump does at his rallies and speeches is hurl insults and lies and paint a dark picture of the country’s future if he’s not elected. 
He does a lot more than that, however. As he did in Detroit, he connects with his audience and hits on the issues he knows are most important to them. 
For Michigan – one of the key battleground states in this election – that’s the economy and the long-term health of the automotive industry.
After the event, pretty much everyone in the media obsessed over one comment Trump made, when he said what could happen if Vice President Kamala Harris were to win. 
“It will be like Detroit. Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she’s your president,” Trump said. “You’re going to have a mess on your hands.”
That comment was portrayed as an insult to Detroit and Detroiters, who are often quick to take offense at outside criticism, and Democrats seized on the comment with plenty of faux outrage.
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Taken in context, however, Trump was making a much broader point, John Rakolta Jr., chairman of the Detroit-based Walbridge construction firm and Trump’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, told me after the event. 
Rakolta, who introduced the former president and did a Q&A with him after his speech, said Trump was referencing Detroit’s well-known financial struggles and historic bankruptcy in 2013. During his speech, Trump focused quite a bit on the $35 trillion national debt and the nearly $2 trillion deficit and warned that Harris’ policies would push the country further into financial peril.
Rakolta said Trump’s speech resonated with not only business leaders but also with union workers, who are an important voting bloc in Michigan. Harris is struggling with union support, while Trump is gaining ground with working-class voters. 
And it’s because he speaks about the issues that they care about. 
A recent Quinnipiac University Poll, released the day before Trump’s Detroit appearance, shows that he’s closing the gap in the “blue wall” states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, with Harris and Trump essentially in a dead heat. In Michigan, Trump leads Harris 50% to 47%, and the ground he has gained in the past month points to how her post-debate boost is waning. 
Among all seven battleground states, Trump is up slightly in all but Wisconsin.   
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When you look at the issues voters care most about, it’s not hard to see why Trump has made gains in Michigan.
The Quinnipiac poll found that voters in Michigan think Trump would do a better job handling the economy, 53%-45%. When it comes to immigration, 53% say Trump is better than Harris (44%).
And with the issue of electric vehicles, a topic important to autoworkers, Trump also holds the advantage. Likely Michigan voters oppose government incentives to encourage people to buy more electric vehicles, 57%-34%. Those incentives, as well as any EV mandates, are something Trump has focused on in this campaign, and he railed against them in his Detroit speech.
Among her many flip-flops, Harris is trying to fashion herself as someone who would never impose an EV mandate, even though that’s exactly what the Biden-Harris administration has pushed for.  
While it’s easy for Trump’s opponents to obsess over his irreverent style and theatrics, there’s a reason his message is resonating with voters.
That’s why I think he’s going to win Michigan. 
Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at [email protected] or on X, formerly Twitter: @Ingrid_Jacques.