Michigan voters split on the direction of the state, but more optimistic than 6 months ago,
Sentiment towards the nation remains the same
Trump job approval ratings higher than Whitmer’s – but her negatives are lower
Roads are still number one issue
CONTACT
Tom Shields, Office: 517-372-4400, Mobile: 517-449-9810, toms@mrgmi.com
Jenell Leonard, Office: 517-372-4400, Mobile: 765-210-7971, jleonard@mrgmi.com
LANSING, Mich. – Recent statewide polling shows Michigan voters are split on the current direction of the state, but that is more optimistic than they were compared to similar polling earlier this year. When asked about the direction of Michigan, 41 percent of voters believe the state to be headed in the right direction with 42 percent believing the opposite. A poll conducted in May showed only 36 percent of the voters believing Michigan was on the right track with 47 percent believing Michigan to be on the wrong track.
On the national level, only 31 percent of Michigan voters believe the nation is heading in the right direction while 59 percent believe the country is generally on the wrong track. The national sentiment in the Spring poll showed 31 percent right direction and 56 percent wrong track.
“In the midst of a divided government, the voter outlook of Michigan is also divided,” said Jenell Leonard, Owner of MRG. “Many issues continue to be at the forefront of voter’s minds including infrastructure, the economy, and education.”
Voters polarized on the President
In spite of the controversy over impeachment, the President’s job approval improved to 44 percent versus 41 percent in May. Those disapproving of the job of the President is at 51 percent which is also an increase from the 49 percent who disapproved in May. The President’s job approval was higher than his personal approval ratings as 37 percent of the voters had a positive opinion of him while 53 percent held a negative opinion.
The President received his highest positive job approval ratings from voters in Northern Michigan, the Upper Peninsula, Macomb County, Mid-Michigan and West Michigan and he received overall negative approval ratings from voters in Wayne County (especially Detroit), Oakland County and the Flint, Saginaw, and Bay City areas.
Statewide elected sentiment
Nearly a year into the administration, Michigan voters are becoming a little more decisive when it comes to Governor Whitmer’s job performance with 42 percent approving and 34 thinking the opposite. This is compared to the Spring numbers that showed the split on the job performance of the Governor with 36 percent approving, 25 percent disapproving. Like the President, Governor Whitmer’s job approval is stronger than her personal approval. When asked to rate their feelings about the governor the results were split at 34 percent positive and 34 percent negative. However, unlike President Trump, there is not a lot of depth to the public’s opinion of the Governor as only 27 percent have a strong feeling about the job she is doing either positive or negative.
“Whitmer’s job performance numbers continue to be overall positive, even though voter’s personal opinions on the governor are evenly split,” said Tom Shields, Senior Advisor at MRG. “The governor’s ability to work with the legislature on legislative priorities – including the budget – will continue to shape and add depth to the public’s opinion of the governor moving forward.”
Most important issue
Roads and infrastructure continue to be the most important issue facing Michigan voters.
According to our poll, 28 percent of voters named roads and infrastructure as the number one issue they are concerned about in the state. Roads are followed by the economy and jobs (13 percent) and education coming in third at 11 percent. Just slightly more than 4 percent of the voters listed the budget veto as the most important problem.
The Questions and Results
The results and the wording of the questions asked by MRG follow.
Q Do you feel things in this country are generally going in the right direction, or do you feel things have gotten pretty seriously off on the wrong track?
Right direction …………………………………………….. 31.2%
Wrong track ………………………………………………… 59.0%
Don’t know ……………………………………………………… 9.7%
Refused ………………………………………………………………. 2.0%
Q. And, thinking about things in Michigan . . . do you feel things in the State of Michigan are generally going in the right direction, or do you feel things have gotten pretty seriously off on the wrong track?
Right direction …………………………………………….. 40.8%
Wrong track ………………………………………………… 41.7%
Don’t know …………………………………………………… 17.0%
Refused …………………………………………………………………. .5%
Q. In general, do you approve or disapprove of the job President Trump is doing as president? [IF APPROVE / DISAPPROVE, ASK:] Would that be strongly (approve / disapprove) or just somewhat (approve / disapprove)?
Strongly approve ………………………………………. 28.7%
Somewhat approve ………………………………….. 15.3%
Neither approve / disapprove ………………. 4.7%
Somewhat disapprove ………………………………… 5.7%
Strongly disapprove ………………………………….. 44.8%
Don’t know ………………………………………………………. .0.7%
Refused ………………………………………………………………. 0.2%
Total approve………………………………. 44%
Total disapprove ………………………. 50.5%
Q. In general, do you approve or disapprove of the job Governor Whitmer is doing as governor? [IF APPROVE / DISAPPROVE, ASK:] Would that be strongly (approve / disapprove) or just somewhat (approve / disapprove)?
Strongly approve ………………………………………. 10.0%
Somewhat approve ………………………………….. 31.7%
Neither approve / disapprove ……………. 19.8%
Somewhat disapprove ……………………………… 16.8%
Strongly disapprove ………………………………… 16.8%
Don’t know ……………………………………………………….. 4.8%
Refused ………………………………………………………………. 0.0%
Total approve……………………………. 41.7%
Total disapprove……………………….. 33.6%
Q. Now, I’m going to read you the names of some people in the news, and I’d like you to rate your feelings toward each one as very positive, somewhat positive, neutral, somewhat negative, or very negative. If you don’t know the name, please just say so. [RANDOMIZE]
| Very Pos | Somewhat Pos | Neutral | Somewhat Neg | Very Neg | Never Heard Of | Don’t Know | Ref | |
| Donald Trump | 25.5% | 11.8% | 9.3% | 5.8% | 47.0% | 0 | .02% | .03% |
| Gretchen Whitmer | 12.3% | 21.2% | 26.8% | 15.7% | 18.0% | 3.2% | 2.5% | .03% |
Q. What are the most important issues facing the state of Michigan at this time? That is, the one or two you personally are most worried about? (please choose category that is closest to the answer given and record the verbatim response).*
Roads/infrastructure/pot hole 166 27.7 %
The economy and jobs 79 13.2 %
Water Quality/Flint 24 4.0 %
Education 63 10.5 %
Taxes/Gas Tax 36 6.0 %
Health Care Issues 34 5.7 %
Auto Insurance Rates 23 3.8 %
Environmental issues 31 5.2 %
Politicians/Government 27 4.5 %
Crime/Drugs 24 4.0 %
State Budget/Governor’s veto 26 4.3 %
Don’t know 34 5.7 %
Refused 8 1.3 %
Other 25 4.2 %
Total 600 100%
MRG Michigan Poll® Fall 2019
The survey of 600 likely Michigan voters was conducted by live interview October 7-10, 2019. The sample was randomly drawn from a listed sample of all registered voters with a history of voting and stratified by city and township to reflect voter turnout. 30% of the sample was conducted with cell phone users. In addition, quotas for gender and cell phone interviews were met within each geographic area, and extra efforts were made to reach African Americans. Thirty percent of the interviews were conducted with cell phone only or cell phone dominant
households.
A sample of 600 likely voters in Michigan yields a sampling margin of error of ±4 percent with a 95 percent confidence interval. The sampling margin of error for subgroups may be higher depending on the size of the subgroup.
About Marketing Resource Group
Lansing, Michigan-based Marketing Resource Group (www.mrgmi.com) is an award-winning PR firm representing corporate, association, nonprofit, and private clients with interests in Michigan. MRG offers expertise in public affairs, communications, political campaign management, and public opinion survey research. For more than thirty years, MRG has conducted its bi-annual omnibus Michigan Poll®, tracking the pulse of Michigan voters on key statewide public policy and political issues. MRG is the only Michigan public opinion survey research firm that maintains nearly 30 years of trend analyses of voter attitudes related to state and national leaders, political parties, and the political and economic climate in Michigan.
Follow MRG on Twitter @mrgmichigan and on Facebook.
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