Majority of Voters Still Believe Country is on the Wrong Track
Governor Whitmer’s Job Approvals and Personal Rankings Decline
LANSING, Mich. – Two months into a new administration and the majority of Michigan voters still believe the country is on the wrong track. Results of the MRG-commissioned Michigan Poll® show 52% of respondents believe the country is on the wrong track compared to the 36% that believe otherwise. Asked the same question just six months ago, the results were 66% wrong track and 25% right direction.
Voter sentiment towards Michigan’s direction is relatively the same from September 2020 when 45% of voters believed Michigan was on the wrong track to the 44% that conveyed right direction. In last week’s poll, 47% of surveyed respondents believe Michigan is on the wrong track compared to the 44% that believe Michigan is headed in the right direction.
“While numbers have improved on the national level, voters are still not happy with the overall direction of the country,” said Jenell Leonard, owner of MRG. “COVID-19, jobs and the economy continue to be the most important issues and how leaders are addressing these issues, are shaping their outlook.”
Voters Split on the President
President Biden has been on the job for two months and has a 50% job approval rating with 41% disapproving. When asked to rate their personal feelings towards President Biden the results were similar, with 48% sharing a positive feeling of the President and 41% a negative feeling.
The president received his highest positive job approval ratings from voters in the City of Detroit, Oakland County, and Tri-Cities area. He received overall negative approval ratings from voters in Northern Lower Michigan, the Upper Peninsula, and Macomb County.
“It was a short honeymoon period for President Biden as his numbers are actually lower than President Obama’s when he was two months into his first term during the middle of a recession,” said Tom Shields, MRG’s Senior Advisor. “President Obama’s first two years lead to a Republican landslide in the midterms. There is still a deep partisan divide in the country in spite the President’s pledge to work across the aisle. If the President continues embracing his far-left policies, including massive tax increases, he could lose the moderates and the Democrats could experience another 2010 Republican landslide in 2022.”
Statewide Elected Sentiment
Governor Whitmer’s job approval ratings have dropped five points since the Fall Michigan Poll® going from 58% in September 2020 to 53% today. Those disapproving of the Governor’s job performance rose from 38% to 43%.
The spread in the Governor’s personal approval has also closed in as 47% of respondents have a positive feeling towards the Governor and 42% have a negative feeling. This is compared to the Fall Michigan Poll® that showed the Governor’s positive feelings at 50% and negative feelings at 40%.
The Governor received her highest job approvals from the City of Detroit, Balance of Wayne County, and Mid-Michigan. Her highest negative job approvals come from Northern Lower Michigan, Macomb, and the Upper Peninsula.
“Public pressure has been mounting on Governor Whitmer over the past few months, and voters are taking notice,” said Leonard. “Not much has changed in voters’ sentiment about the direction of the state, but they seem to be watching the policies and action of the Governor more closely and judging accordingly.”
Top Issues
Coronavirus dominated the list of top issues with 40% of respondents listing it as number one. The economy and jobs came in second at 21% and politicians/government topping out the top three at 13%.
“The three top issues go hand-in-hand,” said Shields. “The pandemic has
impacted jobs and the economy and voters are closely watching how their elected
officials are handling policies related to both.”
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 ……………………………… 36%
Wrong track …………………………………. 52%
Don’t know ………………………………….. 12%
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 ……………………………… 44%
Wrong track …………………………………. 47%
Don’t know …………………………………….. 8%
Q. In general, do you approve or disapprove of the job President Biden is doing as president? [IF APPROVE / DISAPPROVE, ASK:] Would that be strongly (approve / disapprove) or just somewhat (approve / disapprove)?
Strongly approve ………………………….. 30%
Somewhat approve ……………………….. 20%
Neither approve / disapprove ………….. 7%
Somewhat disapprove ……………………. 7%
Strongly disapprove ……………………… 34%
Don’t know …………………………………….. 0%
Refused ………………………………………….. 0%
TOTAL APPROVE: ……………………….. 50%
TOTAL DISAPPROVE: ………………….. 41%
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 ………………………….. 29%
Somewhat approve ………………………. 24%
Neither approve / disapprove …………. 4%
Somewhat disapprove ……………………. 9%
Strongly disapprove ……………………… 33%
Don’t know …………………………………….. 1%
Refused ………………………………………….. 0%
TOTAL APPROVE: ……………………….. 53%
TOTAL DISAPPROVE:…………………… 43%
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.
| Very Positive | Somewhat Positive | Neutral | Somewhat Negative | Very Negative | Never Heard Of | Don’t Know | Refused | |
| Joe Biden | 29 | 19 | 10 | 9 | 32 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Gretchen Whitmer | 26 | 21 | 11 | 9 | 33 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Joe Biden:
Total Positives: 48% Total Negatives: 41%
Gretchen Whitmer:
Total Positives: 47% Total Negatives: 42%
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). Anything else?
MRG Michigan Poll® Spring 2021
The survey of 610 likely Michigan voters was conducted by live interview March 15-18, 2021 with a +4 Dem sample. 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. Quotas for gender and cell phone interviews were met within each geographic area, and extra efforts were made to reach African Americans. Fifty percent of the interviews were conducted with cell phone only or cell phone dominant households. Some columns may not add up to 100% because of rounding. Individual rounding may impact final totals. This survey 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 40 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.
