LANSING, Mich. — If the major political parties in Michigan had hoped to use the conventions held last weekend to boost their candidates’ standings, they may be disappointed in the results so far. In the first public, independent poll conducted following the Republican and Democratic events, Republican nominee Rick Snyder leads Democratic nominee Virg Bernero 58 percent to 39 percent with only 3 percent undecided.
“These results show there’s not much of a Virg Surge yet, and the Nerd Herd just keeps rumbling along,” said Kelly Rossman-McKinney, CEO and founder of The Rossman Group. “Bernero has been in this position before, but the question is whether lightning will strike twice.”
The automated poll, conducted August 30-31, surveyed likely voters on several statewide races and has a margin of error of +/- 5.6%. The survey is the first in what will be a weekly Rossman Group-Team TelCom poll to test voters’ moods this election season. The results of the other questions are as follows:
Secretary of State
Ruth Johnson – 48%
Jocelyn Benson – 33%
Undecided – 19%
Attorney General
Bill Schuette – 48%
David Leyton – 32%
Undecided – 20%
While Republicans hold the lead in all statewide races, Snyder is the only candidate to break the 50 percent mark. In all of the contests, Democratic candidates were favored by about the same number of respondents who considered themselves Democrats, while Republicans had advantages with self-identified Independents. Snyder leads Bernero with this group by a nearly 3-1 margin. The only case in which a Republican candidate was preferred by more women than men was Ruth Johnson for Secretary of State.
Five percent of respondents claimed to be Tea Party members and they did not appear to have a problem with Rick Snyder at the top of the ticket, as all of them chose him over Bernero. This group also appeared to be slightly older, with less than one-percent of them coming from the 45 and under age bracket.
“Despite the increased visibility due to nominees being finalized and some convention disputes, these responses are consistent with what we’ve been seeing for weeks,” Rossman-McKinney. “The drop in undecided voters will force trailing campaigns to pull votes away from the leaders, and that can be difficult and expensive.”
Contact: Kelly Rossman-McKinney, 517-487-9320 (office), 517-749-0529 (cell), krossman@rossmangroup.com