This November, Michiganders Have A Choice, Do They Want More Freedom Or More Government In Their Lives?
“Throughout Gretchen Whitmer’s term, Michiganders have truly learned what it means to be at the mercy of an overreaching, ineffective, and incompetent government. From her COVID failures that shuttered Michigan’s economy and hurt small business owners, to even more sinister policies that set back students’ educations, it is abundantly clear that Gretchen Whitmer has failed the very people she was supposed to represent. Her tanking approval ratings indicate we are not alone in wanting to retire her for good this November, and we are confident Michiganders will choose to take the state in a new direction at the ballot box.” – Gustavo Portela, MIGOP Communications Director
BIDEN-WHITMER POLICIES SMOTHERED MICHIGAN’S ECONOMY
- Inflation is wreaking havoc on Michiganders’ pocketbooks.
- Nationally, consumer prices have risen by 8.5 percent in the last 12 months, marking the largest annual increase in 40 years.
- In the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn Metro area in the last 12 months:
- The cost of food increased 8.3 percent
- The cost of meat, poultry, fish and eggs increased by 16.6 percent
- Rent has gone up 8.3 percent
- The cost of a used car or truck increased 42.2 percent
- The cost of regular unleaded gasoline increased 38.8 percent
- WDIV-Detroit: “Everything seems to cost more…”
- Fox 2 Detroit’s Tim Skubick: “People are paying attention to the inflation problem, they see it every other day when they go to the gas pump.”
- Reports all over Michigan are showing that businesses are hurting and families are struggling to make ends meet over inflation.
- There are 127,600 fewer Michiganders working today compared to when Whitmer first took office.
- This includes 33,600 manufacturing jobs, 8,300 retail jobs and 38,200 leisure and hospitality jobs.
- Michigan’s unemployment rate is ranked in the lowest quarter in the country and is higher than all of its next-door neighbors.
- Michigan is only one of four states to have had negative GDP growth in both 2019 and 2020.
- Michigan’s economic growth in the 4th quarter 2021 fell short of the national average by more than a percentage point.
- Michigan ranked 49th in individual income growth in Michigan in 2019.
- Whitmer backed President Biden’s unconstitutional employer vaccine mandate.
- Whitmer initially opposed the mandate, telling business leaders in rural Montcalm County that the mandates are “a problem for all of us.”
- However, after pressure to conform, Whitmer got in line with the Biden talking points and backed the employer mandates saying “I appreciate what President Biden is trying to accomplish … It’s about saving lives. It’s about getting more people vaccinated.”
- Biden and Whitmer prolonged getting Michiganders back to work.
- Biden pushed for unemployment checks that prolonged unemployment by incentivizing workers not to return to work.
- The Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) improperly paid $8.5 billion in fraudulent or ineligible claims after the UIA invented four eligibility criteria categories not authorized by the CARES act.
- UIA knowingly paid out thousands of fraudulent claims after gutting the fraud investigation unit and stripping away even the basic fraud protection protocols.
- Biden cancelled the Keystone pipeline which blocked thousands of good-paying American jobs, many of which were in construction.
- Whitmer upped the ante in a ‘hold my beer’ moment and blocked the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline which will cause $5.4 billion of economic damages in southeast Michigan and Ohio and lead to the loss of thousands of skilled trade and union jobs.
- In March 2020, Whitmer endorsed Joe Biden for President.
- Whitmer said that she was “ridin’ with Biden.”
- Whitmer spoke at the 2020 DNC virtual convention where she called Joe Biden “tested” and “proven.”
- Whitmer campaigned for Biden and Harris at numerous campaign events across Michigan.
OUR KIDS WERE NOT FREE TO LEARN
- K-12 Students were deprived of in-person instruction in some parts of Michigan for up to two years.
- Graduation rates fell in Michigan in 2021.
- In the 2020-2021 school year, failing grades increased by 20 percent in elementary and middle schools and 35 percent in high schools.
- In 2021, math and reading levels lagged behind pre-pandemic performance.
- At the end of the 2020-2021 school year, 27 percent of all 4th graders, including 66 percent of Black students were behind grade level in Math.
- Students in schools that did not close to in-person instruction underperformed those who attended schools that remained open.
- Pre-existing achievements gaps in race and economic status grew wider during the Whitmer lockdowns.
BIDEN AND WHITMER ARE LOSING
- Michiganders are seeing through the failed economic policies of Biden and Whitmer.
- It is no wonder why 65 percent of Michiganders believe the state is on the wrong track economically and only 40 percent of voters would commit to voting for Whitmer again.
- Biden’s approval is now consistently polling at records lows.
- NBC News has Biden at 43 percent, a record low.
- The Washington Post/ABC News has Biden at 37 percent, a record low.
- Reuters has Biden at 40 percent, a record low.