离选举日还有不到两个月，总统唐纳德·特朗普将于周四晚上在密歇根州举行集会，密歇根州是他长期以来一直为之奋斗的战场州，尽管这帮助他赢得了2016年的胜利。
特朗普和拜登的竞选活动都集中在战场州，因为他们追求不同的策略来赢得密歇根州的16张选举人票。这位前副总统的目标是更多样化的社区，而特朗普的重点是更白、更郊区的地区，因为种族主义者鼓吹保护郊区在总统竞选连任中发挥了重要作用。尽管存在这些差异，两位候选人都在访问上届总统选举中从前总统巴拉克·奥巴马转向特朗普的地区选举。
本周早些时候，特朗普竞选团队与记者举行了一次新闻发布会，概述了特朗普获得赢得连任所需的270张选举人票的七种不同情况。其中只有两个场景显示了一条没有赢得密歇根的道路。据报道，特朗普计划在弗里兰发表讲话，因为他落后于前副总统乔·拜登7.6个百分点，拜登本周也在该州五点三十八分。
Leah Millis/路透社
2020年5月21日，在密歇根州伊普西兰蒂的新冠肺炎大流行期间，唐纳德·特朗普总统在参观生产呼吸机和医疗用品的福特·罗森维尔部件厂时与商界成员交谈。
周三，拜登访问了马科姆县的沃伦，该县在2008年和2012年两次投票给奥巴马后，于2016年转变为共和党。该县还包括底特律的郊区。弗里兰位于萨吉诺县，这是另一个在2016年颠覆共和党的县。萨吉诺县以48%-47%的微弱优势支持特朗普希拉里·克林顿在那场比赛中。
根据美国人口普查数据，沃伦的人口相对比自由之地更多样化，那里85%的人口是白人，黑人(8%)和拉丁美洲人(3.7%)仅占人口的12%左右。在70%为白人的沃伦，黑人(18.5%)和拉丁美洲人(2.1%)占该镇人口的20%多一点。
弗里兰是萨吉诺市的一个农村郊区(不要与该县混淆)，位于密歇根州弗林特以北大约一小时车程的地方。弗里兰也位于蒂塔巴瓦西镇，与四年前的克林顿相比，该镇以32个百分点的优势支持特朗普。
特朗普到访之际，《华盛顿邮报》和美国有线电视新闻网(CNN)本周公布了记者鲍勃·伍德沃德的报道，披露特朗普通过以下方式误导公众故意淡化冠状病毒。
总统说他不想在这个国家制造恐慌。
根据该州的网站，密歇根州已有近6900名新冠肺炎人死亡。早在4月份，在该州封锁期间，总统要求将其从冠状病毒限制中“解放出来”。
特朗普与该州州长格雷琴·惠特默(Gretchen Whitmer)进行了公开斗争，后者延长了限制，并面临武装抗议，要求在州议会大厦重新开放。
CNN/SSRS在7月下旬对密歇根州居民进行的一项民意调查发现，59%的密歇根州受访者不赞成总统对这一流行病的反应。与此同时，69%的受访者认为惠特默正在尽一切努力抗击疫情，而23%的人认为她可以做得更多。
Trump to rally in Michigan on heels of Biden visit
With less than two months until Election Day, PresidentDonald Trumpis set to hold a rally Thursday night in Michigan, a battleground state he’s long been fighting for from behind despite the fact that it helped propel him to victory in 2016.
Both the Trump and Biden campaigns are focused on the battleground state, as they pursue different strategies for capturing the Michigan’s 16 electoral votes. The former vice president is targeting more diverse neighborhoods, while Trump is focused on whiter and more suburban areas, as racist dog whistles about preserving thesuburbs have played prominently in the president’s bid for reelection.Despite those differences, both candidates are visiting areas that flipped from former President Barack Obama to Trump in the last presidentialelection.
Earlier this week, the Trump campaign held a press call with reporters that outlined seven different scenarios in which Trump gets the necessary 270 electoral votes to win reelection. Only two of those scenarios show a pathway without winning Michigan. Trump plans to speak in Freeland as he trails former Vice President Joe Biden, who was also in the state this week, by 7.6 points in the state, according toFiveThirtyEight.
President Donald Trump speaks with members of the business community while visiting the Ford Rawsonville Components Plant, which is making ventilators and medical supplies, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ypsilanti, Mich., May 21, 2020.
On Wednesday, Biden visited Warren, in Macomb County, which flipped Republican in 2016 after previously voting for Obama twice in 2008 and 2012. The county also covers the suburbs of Detroit. Freeland is in Saginaw County, another county that flipped Republican in 2016. Saginaw County backed Trump narrowly, 48%-47%, overHillary Clintonin that race.
Warren is relatively more diverse than Freeland, which is 85% white, with Black people (8%) and Latinos (3.7%) making up only about 12% of the population, according to U.S. Census data. In Warren, which is 70% white, Black people (18.5%) and Latinos (2.1%) make up just over 20% of the town's population.
Freeland is a rural suburb of the city of Saginaw (not to be confused with the county) and is located about an hour north of Flint, Michigan. Freeland is also located within Tittabawassee Township, which sided with Trump by a much wider margin -- 32 points -- over Clinton four years ago.
Trump's visit comes as reporting by journalist Bob Woodward made public this week by The Washington Post and CNN reveals the president misled the public bypurposely downplaying the coronavirus.
The president has said that he did not want to create panic in the country.
According to the state's website, there have been nearly 6,900 COVID-19 deaths in Michigan. Back in April, during the state’s lockdown, the president demanded it be "liberated" from coronavirus restrictions.
Trump engaged in a public battle with the state’s governor, Gretchen Whitmer, who extended the restrictions and faced armed protests to reopen at the state capitol.
A CNN/SSRS poll of Michigan residents in late July found that 59% of Michigan respondents disapproved of the president's response to the pandemic. Meanwhile, 69% of respondents thought Whitmer was doing everything she could to fight the outbreak, while 23% thought she could be doing more.
