Biden Plans Politically Risky Trip To UAW Picket Line

President Biden and former President Donald Trump will both travel to Detroit this week to meet United Auto Workers and deliver remarks touting their union credentials. The dueling trips demonstrate the importance of the union vote in swing states like Michigan for the 2024 presidential election.

• Biden said on X: “Tuesday, I’ll go to Michigan to join the picket line and stand in solidarity...”
• The move is a risky and comes after several high-ranking Michigan Democrats warned Biden against inserting himself into the dispute. A Democrat strategist told Axios: "If this situation goes south, it sends a real blow to his economic narrative.”
• Politico writes that, “[Biden’s] decision to stand alongside the striking workers represents perhaps the most significant display of union solidarity ever by a sitting president.”
• Axios notes that, “Trump only lost union households by eight points (51%-43%) in 2016, a result that helped him tip traditionally Democratic Rust Belt states Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin into the GOP column,” but “Biden reclaimed those states in 2020 while winning union households by 16 points (56%-40%), according to exit polling.”