The battle for the union vote

There is an intense political badminton match in full bloom between the Joe Biden side and those playing with Donald Trump.

And the birdie in the middle? The 980,000 current and retired United Auto Workers members whose vote is up for grabs.

Both sides are eager to win over those votes in the 2024 presidential sweepstakes, but they can't agree who will get the most -- especially here in Michigan.

That back-and-forth is nothing new in our beloved state, as the battle for the union vote has made history along the way.

In its early years, the union leaned predominantly Democratic, as underscored by the fact that, if you were a Democrat running for president, you for darn sure circled the Detroit Labor Day march as a must-stop on the road to the White House. Sen. John Kennedy was there, and, two months later, was setting up shop on Pennsylvania Avenue.

But a funny thing happened about 10 years later in our state, and union President Doug Fraser at the time was not laughing. The stranglehold the union held on those members whom they thought were good Democrats was broken by the governor of Alabama.

Not only did George Corley Wallace campaign in Michigan, he won the presidential primary with a huge boost from rank-and-file UAW members, as Fraser lamented how many bought into the Wallace "segregation now, segregation forever" message.

And that was only the beginning.

By the time the affable and conservative Ronald Reagan rolled into this state years later, the union membership was ripe for the picking again. Sure enough, there were enough Macomb County union members who switched parties that the national pundits, who were overwhelmed by that turn of events, came up with a term to describe the mutiny. "Reagan Democrats" is forever now ensconced in the nationwide political dialogue, as is "Trump Democrats."

Thanks in part to the less-than-sterling political candidacy of Hillary Clinton, who it seemed only her close relatives loved, Trump followed in Reagan's footprints and not only nailed the presidential win in this state, which sent Fraser spinning in his resting place, but Trump's win here and in other swing states tumbled Trump into the White House, too.

Which brings us to the rematch of Biden vs. Trump, in which Biden was victorious in breaking the Trump magic in Michigan four years ago -- but not by a lot.

But a win is a win, so they say.

This time, however, Trump is now racking up poll after poll showing him with a legit lead over the president, which is keeping one Gov. Gretchen Whitmer awake at nights, and she is hardly alone.

Trump is stumping hard for the UAW vote and blaming the UAW leadership for siding with Biden on his planned 50% electric vehicle fleet by 2030. Trump, ever ready to exploit an opening, is telling those workers that policy will cost them their jobs -- and many are listening.

Sensing another Hillary moment in the making, Biden walked the picket lines during the strike and was back working the union troops in where else but Macomb County this past week. It's all-hands-on-deck as the debate over the size of the union vote going to Trump remains in play.

Current UAW President Shawn Fain is on the national TV political show circuit, suggesting a "majority" of his folks would plunk for the president, but "majority" could mean as little as 51%.

Then, in the same "Face the Nation" interview, Fain bumped it to a "huge majority," saying Trump would get less than the 28% he got before, but that can hardly be reassuring enough to get Whitmer sleeping like a baby again.

Fain, who is giving it his all, calls Trump a "scab," hoping that will stir the "solidarity forever" memory for his members thinking about jumping ship again with a Trump vote.

Fraser and company also called Wallace a racist, and you see where that got that union president.