Life in Divided America

April 01--TRAVERSE CITY -- Cody Loveland joined thousands of Michigan voters who turned Michigan's electoral votes red in 2016, giving a Republican presidential candidate a state win for the first time since 1988.

Loveland, 34, changed his own voting tendencies not too long ago. He grew up a Democratic voter, but began voting for Republicans as he entered his career building race cars and aerodynamic race car parts. The vote for President Donald Trump came down to a simple reason -- Republicans are more business-friendly, he said.

Loveland awaits changes Trump and other lawmakers either made or hope for, like tax cuts and health care reform, to trickle down to northern Michigan.

He continues to support his choice for president, although it appears some of the things Trump has said or done fail to bring Loveland confidence in his pick.

"He comes off as an idiot at times," he said. "But everyone says stupid stuff."

In Michigan 10,704 votes separated Trump from Hillary Clinton, a margin of just 0.2 percent. That slim edge -- the slimmest of any state -- gave Michigan's 16 electoral votes to Trump.

Trump is the first Republican president to gain an election victory in Michigan in 20 years. From 1972 through 1988, Michigan was a red state, voting Republican in every presidential election from Richard M. Nixon to George H.W. Bush.

The state flipped in 1992 with the election of Bill Clinton, voting Democrat for the next six presidential elections, ending with Barack Obama in 2012.

Beulah resident Timothy Edgar, a home remodeler who leans right and voted for Trump, is frustrated by the inaction on Capitol Hill. A solution, he said, is giving everyone in Congress an assigned seat that would have every Democrat sitting next to a Republican.

"You usually work with the person you're sitting next to," said Edgar, 59, who was interviewed at the Interlochen Public Library.

He also would like to see an end to the FBI investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia.

"It's leading to nothing," Edgar said. "Lobbyists are paid to influence the vote every day. If that's OK, why can't the Russians influence the vote?"

Interlochen resident Tracy Schworm, who recently lost her job, didn't like either choice in the presidential election and gave her vote to Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson.

She wasn't alone, as 172,136 people voted for Johnson, with another 51,463 voting for Green Party candidate Jill Stein. That's compared to 29,671 who voted for the two parties in 2012, and 32,608 in 2008.

That surge of independent voters in Michigan and other swing states may be responsible for Trump's election when all bets were on Clinton to win.

John "Al" Hutchinson of Traverse City votes mostly Democratic. At 62 he is retired from sales and manufacturing and cares about health care and the environment and believes that a country is strongest when all of its people are taken care of -- not just the rich. He said he voted for Clinton because he liked the direction the country was taking under Obama.

Nicole Wildman settled for Clinton after hoping Bernie Sanders would become the Democratic candidate. She now feels terrified with Trump at the helm.

"I intentionally have not really followed politics since the election because everything I see makes me ill and I can't sleep at night," said Wildman, 38, of Traverse City. Wildman is a Ferris State University student enrolled through the Northwestern Michigan College's University Center.

"He is dismantling pretty much every environmental policy he can get his hands on. He's come in and been a steamroller."

Trump's "crassness," "misogynistic words," and demeanor toward other countries scares Wildman, but his commitment to fix or cut ObamaCare encourages her.

Loveland hopes to see the health care system fixed now that a Republican is in office. He once had a reasonably-priced health insurance plan, but costs soared and he couldn't cover the payments and chose to cancel his coverage.

Rène LaFreniere, of Buckley, hopes to see the Affordable Care Act dissected and medical care more affordable. Eliminating penalties and fines for the uninsured is a good first step, but there remains a lot of work to do to improve the system.

"It's anything but affordable," said LaFreniere, 43, shop manager at Buckley Auto Tech.

He is hopeful to hear talks concerning possible rollbacks of the Affordable Care Act, but was concerned to hear the negative early response from some voters. LaFreniere said too many people feel entitled to health care. That same feeling of entitlement applies to government assistance and welfare programs.

The entitlement stems from a flawed system parents use to raise their children, he said. An emphasis on personal responsibility lacks in today's parenting strategies, leading to a lack of consequence with youth.

"A lot of people think they deserve certain things that they've done nothing to earn, nor deserve," LaFreniere said. "When you nurture that type of culture, which our government has done for a while now, they're not going to wean themselves off of it, they're going to expect more."

Regardless of disagreements or who was elected to the nation's top spot, Schworm believes people should honor that choice and the office itself.

"I also think that whoever is president, they deserve a level of respect, whether you voted for them or not," Schworm said. "The office deserves a level of respect."

Election results

Michigan:

Trump (Republican) -- 2,279,543 (47.5 percent)

Clinton (Democrat) -- 2,268,839 (47.3 percent)

Johnson (Libertarian) -- 172,136 (3.6 percent)

Stein (Green) -- 51,463 (1.07 percent)

Voter turnout -- 63 percent

Grand Traverse County:

Trump -- 27,413 (52.7 percent)

Clinton -- 20,965 (40.3 percent)

Johnson -- 2,149 (4 percent)

Stein -- 756 (1.5 percent)

Voter turnout -- 71 percent

Antrim County:

Trump -- 8,469 (62.4 percent)

Clinton -- 4,448 (32.8 percent)

Johnson -- 459 (3.4 percent)

Stein -- 146 (1.1 percent)

Voter turnout -- 59 percent

Benzie County:

Trump -- 5,539 (54.2 percent)

Clinton -- 4,108 (40.2 percent)

Johnson -- 382 (3.7 percent)

Stein -- 149 (1.5 percent)

Voter turnout -- 56 percent

Kalkaska County:

Trump -- 6,213 (69.7 percent)

Clinton -- 2,279 (25.5 percent)

Johnson -- 283 (3.2 percent)

Stein -- 118 (1.3 percent)

Voter turnout -- 61 percent*

*Unofficial

Leelanau County:

Trump -- 7,239 (48.6 percent)

Clinton -- 6,774 (45.5 percent)

Johnson -- 510 (3.4 percent)

Stein -- 197 (1.3 percent)

Voter turnout -- 75 percent

___

(c)2018 The Record-Eagle (Traverse City, Mich.)

Visit The Record-Eagle (Traverse City, Mich.) at record-eagle.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.