LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- The unemployment rate in Michigan is high, the population is shrinking and scores of manufacturing plants have closed. But President Barack Obama's hopes for another electoral victory in Michigan could depend on voters remembering a time when things were worse.
The industrial state has endured a decade of economic hardship. With native son Mitt Romney as the likely Republican nominee, the president's re-election prospects in Michigan once appeared grim.
While the Michigan economy has a long way to go to regain the 857,000 jobs it has lost since mid-2000, voters are telling pollsters they're starting to notice a subtle upswing -- and that could be good news for Obama.
But not all voters in Michigan are convinced the improvement has much to do with Obama's policies.