Michigan Presidential Election 2016 Results: Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton

Updated at 10:44 a.m. MICHIGAN — Donald Trump has won the presidency, according to unofficial election results but still hasn't sealed a victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton in the scramble for Michigan's 16 electoral votes. With 99 percent of Michigan precincts counted at 10:44 a.m. Wednesday, Trump led, 48 percent to 47 percent, according to the Associated Press.

The unofficial popular vote in Michigan was 2,258,166 votes for Trump and 2,241,930 for Clinton.

Our earlier story:

Donald Trump’s Hail Mary move to squeak out votes in enough Rust Belt areas that haven’t fully recovered from the recession and other battleground states appears to be paying off in Michigan. Long considered safe territory for Democrats — the last time a Republican carried the state was in 1988 — the scramble for the state’s 16 electoral votes has narrowed to a near dead-heat in recent months.

The importance Trump has placed on Michigan was illustrated Monday, when he held his final campaign rally in a tumultuous election season in Grand Rapids. Since winning his party’s nomination last summer, Trump has barnstormed the state with multiple visits, including one in the Detroit suburb of Sterling Heights on Sunday.

As polls tightened, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton stepped up her public schedule in Michigan. She headed into Election Day with a 3.6-percentage-point lead in a Real Clear Politics polling average, but that pales next to the 11-point polling lead she had in early October.

Live Results: Clinton vs. Trump

FBI Director James Comey’s letter to Congress about the discovery of a new trove of emails — which he said Sunday don’t change the FBI’s decision not to charge Clinton for her use of a private email server while secretary of state — no doubt hurt Clinton, cutting into a polling bump after leaked tapes showed Trump boasting about sexually assaulting women.

Clinton, who campaigned in Detroit Sunday, made her first Michigan campaign stop west of U.S. 23 on the final day of the campaign. It’s deep Trump territory, and the New York businessman, casino owner and reality television star has a 5-percentage-point lead over Clinton in that part of the state.

Michigan Voter Schism

In some respects, Michigan is an unlikely enclave for Trump supporters. He has used different gambits in trying to break through Michigan’s “Blue Wall,” including a direct appeal to black voters in predominantly African-American Detroit. “What the hell do you have to lose?” Trump asked last summer.

Southeast Michigan is also the top destination for the resettlement of Syrian and other Muslim refugees fleeing ISIS terror in their homelands. Trump has reserved some of his most heated rhetoric for immigrants, whether from Middle East countries or Mexico.

The schism of Michigan voters may be best reflected in Dearborn, which borders predominantly black Detroit and has the highest concentration of Arab-Americans and Muslims in the United States. But as home to Ford Motor Co., it’s also the birthplace of the American automobile, as red-white-and-blue a community as can be found in America.

Trump's most effective tact has been to key in on economic stagnation and Democratic trade policies, like the North American Free Trade Alliance signed by former President Bill Clinton, that manufacturers have used to move jobs out of the United States. Trump has singled out economic plans that would subject automakers to steep tariffs if they move manufacturing operations to other countries, particularly Mexico, where Ford is moving its small car production.

Clinton has pointed out that the auto industry finished its best year in modern history in 2015 and has dismissed Trump’s dire picture of manufacturing in America as a symptom of the “road rage” that blue-collar workers may still be experiencing after the financial crash.

Dearborn resident Lee Jacobsen owns his own auto parts manufacturing company, Jacobsen Industries, which employs about 140 people. He voted, reluctantly, for Trump. “Both candidates are despicable,” he told Patch. “He’s in it for the country. Hillary is in it for herself.”

Trump’s focus on manufacturing tipped the scales for Jacobsen.

“Corporate taxes are close to 40 percent,” he said. “If we can get taxes down to 15 percent like Trump says, then the companies fleeing America will flee back to America. One of my employees is a forklift operator and I told him if taxes go down to 15 percent, then I'll buy a new forklift and he won't have to drive around the clunker anymore.”

Next door, in Dearborn Heights, a Muslim woman told Patch she wasn’t thrilled with either candidate, but voted for Clinton. “Donald (Trump) has not been quiet about his views on immigration,” she said. “How is America great if you get rid of the multicultural people? Blacks, Muslims and Mexicans? There won’t be anything left.”

Photos by Gage Skidmore via Flickr Commons