Governor Rick Snyder may be facing a tough re-election battle next year. A new poll shows the governor’s approval rating is holding in the mid-30s.
Michigan State University’s "State of the State" survey polled Michiganders earlier this fall. The pollsters found only about 36% of Michiganders approved of the job Snyder is doing in office. That’s actually an improvement. Last spring, after the Right to Work battle, Snyder’s approval rating dropped below 30% in the survey.
Charles Ballard is the survey’s director. He says the poll gives an early hint to next year’s election.
“At minimum it’s quite likely that this governor’s race will be closer than the one we had four years ago, when all of the stars were aligned in favor of the Republicans and that’s not so much true now,” says Ballard.
Ballard points out former Governor Jennifer Granholm faced similar poll numbers the year before she won re-election.
The telephone survey of 978 Michigan adults, which has a margin of error of 3.1 percent, was conducted from Aug. 24 to Oct. 27. The government shutdown was Oct. 1-16; HealthCare.gov was launched Oct. 1.
