A new statewide poll shows Gov. Rick Snyder’s approval ratings are slowly rising, President Obama’s numbers remain stagnant, and “undecided” leads over all Republican candidates in the presidential race.
The poll taken by Lambert, Edwards & Associates and Denno Research shows Snyder’s numbers have actually improved with Democratic voters, despite an emergency manager law and budget cuts that were highly unpopular with Democrats in 2011. In addition, Snyder’s popularity with independents has jumped sharply.
“While Gov. Snyder’s job performance numbers remain low – at only 35 percent high (approval) versus a 25 percent low – his numbers have improved from June 2011 – a notable uptick, when his high was only 28 percent and his low was 30 percent,” said Jeff Lambert, president and managing partner of LE&A. “Our poll found that the governor’s agenda is picking up momentum and starting to positively resonate with Michigan residents.”
Snyder’s positive numbers with Democrats have improved by 8 points and his negatives have gone down by 9 points, said Dennis Denno, president of Denno Research.
“What is most important for the governor is that he is strengthening his position within his own base, and his high numbers have gone from 51 percent to 60 percent,” Denno said. “It’s also important to note that his positioning with independent voters is improving, as his positives have gone from 30 to 35 percent, an increase of 5 points.”
In the Republican presidential race, the questions directed just at GOP voters found that 34 percent are still undecided. Mitt Romney was the top pick at 29 percent, with Newt Gingrich at 19 percent and Rick Santorum at 12 percent trailing the former Massachusetts governor.
However, the poll was taken before Gingrich scored a big win in the South Carolina primary and before Romney opened up a huge lead over Gingrich in advance of Tuesday’s Florida primary.
Democrats want the president to face Gingrich or Ron Paul in November. Asked which GOP contender they consider the weakest candidate for Obama to face both Gingrich and Paul were chosen by 25 percent of the Democratic respondents. Twelve 12 percent of Democrats thought Romney was the weakest and another 12 percent chose Santorum.
Meanwhile, while Snyder’s numbers improved, Obama’s did not, as his approval number is at 39 percent, only one percentage point better than previous LE&A poll taken in June 2011.
“It’s not surprising that 75 percent of Republicans gave Obama low (disapproval) ratings, while 73 percent of Democrats gave him a high rating. The president remains a polarizing figure in Michigan politics,” Lambert said. “Only 42 percent of females polled gave the president a high rating, while 36 percent of males gave him a high rating.”
In other results from the Jan. 19-21 poll of 600 voters, Michiganders are starting to feel a little better about the state’s economy. A majority of voters – 56 percent – think the state’s economy is starting to turn around, a difference of plus 14 from LE&A’s June 2011 poll. That might explain why Snyder’s numbers look better in 2012. The biggest change came from Republicans, with 61 percent thinking Michigan’s economy is turning around, a difference of plus 23 from June 2011.
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Here is my question. Are there any other states, besides Michigan, that have moved from democracy to dictatorship?
Let me give you some background about this question. Michigan voters have elected a republican governor, a republican house, a republican senate, a republican state supreme court and the heads of all the state offices. All of the elected individuals are republican politicians except for the governor, who is a citizen with republican leanings. The republican party was not very happy when he won the nomination because they knew he would not toe the party line 100 percent. So it is, as of now, somewhat of a benevolent dictatorship. So for whatever reasons, michigan voters believe that a dictatorship is preferable to democracy. They have said so with there vote.
The governor has cut corporate taxes. The governor has raised individual taxes through michigan tax code changes and by raising fees for most state items. Ironically the republican house and senate, which fought the previous democratic governor over any attempt to raise taxes, passed all of the republican governors tax increase requests without any complaints. The media seems to think that this governor is accomplishing a lot. I guess when your opposition is gone you can get pretty much anything you want. I wonder how well he would be doing if he had run as a democrat. He did say that he is running for reelection in 2014. Maybe he should switch parties and see how well that works for him in getting things done.
The most obvious other example, of a dictatorship in action, in michigan is the republican attorney generals' disregard of the will of the people. A medical marijuana law was passed, through a vote of the people, by about 63 percent. Yet the attorney general, who was part of the 37 percent that voted against it, is doing everything he can to stop its implementation. Under the guise of “The law needs more refinement”, he hopes to delay it forever. he is crushing the will of the people. Of course nothing can be done to stop him because this is a dictatorship.
Oh and one more thing, if you're gay, don't come to michigan. The dictatorship does not like you. If you think that is an exaggeration look up the laws that have been passed.