WASHINGTON — Michigan voters are deeply divided on whether the federal government should subsidize General Motors Co.’s retooling of a Cadillac sedan plant in Lansing for future production of electric vehicles, according to a new statewide poll commissioned by The Detroit News and WDIV-TV (Channel 4).

The survey of 600 likely voters, conducted Oct. 22-24, found that about 46.1% of voters oppose the Biden administration’s $500 million grant for converting GM’s Lansing Grand River Assembly plant to an EV plant, while 45.6% said they support it.

The narrow gap — even narrower than the overall statewide gap between Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump — reflects how strongly the topic of EVs has become tied to presidential politics in automotive-heavy Michigan.

"The conversation about electric vehicles has been fully engulfed by the political campaigns," said pollster Richard Czuba, founder of the Glengariff Group, a Lansing-based firm that conducted the poll.

Voters are split on EVs because Donald Trump has made sure they're split," Czuba added. "He has driven the wedge in."

Democratic President Joe Biden has made shifting the U.S. auto industry toward EVs a top priority for the dual purposes of fighting climate change and keeping the country competitive with China, now the clear world leader in making and selling battery-electric vehicles amid a global shift toward the technology.

Biden has approached that goal through more stringent tailpipe and fuel economy regulations, tax credits with domestic production requirements, manufacturing subsidies, funding for EV chargers, tariffs meant to protect against Chinese dominance and a proposed ban on Chinese vehicles over national security concerns.

Trump and other Republicans have railed against those policies, especially the environmental regulations, saying they amount to an "EV mandate." The phrase has become a popular campaign slogan for suggesting overreach by the Biden and Harris administration that could hamstring Michigan's signature industry.

"You shouldn't have to feel like you're forced to get an electric vehicle when you can't afford it, because in that case, you're just putting more debt into your pocket," said Theresa Riggie, 33, of Midland, who participated in the poll and plans to vote for Trump.

The GM Lansing plant — selected for the $500 million award in July— has emerged as a significant part of the political discourse around EVs in Michigan. Unionized workers at the plant currently assemble Cadillac CT4 and CT5 sedans, after GM ceased production of the Chevrolet Camaro muscle car in December. The Biden administration said the grant would save 650 jobs and create 50 new positions.

GOP vice presidential nominee JD Vance has said the federal money amounts to "table scraps," Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers of White Lake Township called it a "bad investment," and Trump has said the U.S. should stop trying to compete with China on EVs.

Harris and her allies, such as Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Elissa Slotkin, have rejected the notion they support an EV mandate and called out Republicans for potentially risking Michigan jobs by failing to honor the GM grant if elected.

Slotkin — who holds a narrow lead over Rogers, according to the Detroit News-WDIV poll — in particular has framed her support for EVs around jobs.

“If the fundamental question is 'who do we want to make that next generation of vehicles?' you better believe I want that to be Michigan, not China,” Slotkin said at an Oct. 14 debate with Rogers. “Everyone knows China is eating our lunch on these kind of vehicles.”

Asked if they thought EVs represented a threat or opportunity to add jobs to Michigan's auto industry, likely voters were somewhat less divided than they were on the Lansing factory question. About 49% said EVs represented an opportunity, 39% said a threat and about 6% said both. Nearly 7% said they didn't know or refused to answer.

Czuba also said voters were much more likely to support a message centered around keeping automotive jobs in Michigan — regardless of whether those jobs are tied to internal combustion engine vehicles or EVs. More specifically, the poll asked voters to choose which of the following two statements they agreed with more.

The first choice: "Michigan should focus on building gasoline powered vehicles and the jobs that come with it. If automakers want to build electric vehicles, they should do it somewhere else even if it means those jobs go somewhere else."

The second: "Michigan should fight to win both gasoline powered auto jobs and electric vehicle auto jobs. Regardless of what kind of vehicle it is, it should be built in Michigan."

About 9% of respondents chose the first statement, whereas about 88% agreed with the second.

"For those trying to help voters understand electric vehicles and battery jobs and the opportunities behind them, that question provides the pathway," Czuba said. "And that pathway is: It's not an either-or choice. We can do all of it. That's what voters support."

He continued: "And it indicates, particularly for Trump voters or Republican voters who oppose the Lansing grant, and see EVs as a threat, that all they're hearing about are EV jobs. They're not hearing about the traditional auto jobs, and they think those are going away."

Some voters have bucked their parties to adopt different perspectives on EVs as they become a growing part of the auto industry in Michigan.

Andy Amsdill, 39, a community mental health worker from St. Clair Shores, said he would support Harris and Slotkin in the election and that he supports a transition to EVs. But he strongly opposes the federal government giving GM $500 million for the Lansing plant to build EVs.

"We're pushing 20 years where we're just bailing out the auto industry and they're still giving their honchos raises every year amid record sales, but we're still footing the bill somehow," Amsdill said.

Sales across the auto industry have not quite recovered to pre-pandemic levels, but 2023 represented the best sales year for GM since 2019. It was the country's top-selling automaker last year.

Anthony Garland, 62, a contractor from Detroit, said he would be voting for Trump and Rogers and that he was concerned about a transition to EVs in Michigan, given its cold winters and lagging charging infrastructure. But he said he supported the grant for GM's Lansing Grand River plant.

"I have over 21 family members that work for the Big Three," Garland said, referencing GM, Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis NV. "I just want to be able to make sure that my family have a job."

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