Though President Donald Trump’s early days in the Oval Office have generated negative views among Michigan voters, he maintains positive feedback in the key pockets of the state that provided him with a narrow election win in November.
According to a statewide poll conducted by Lansing-based EPIC-MRA, 39 percent viewed Trump favorably after his first two weeks in the Oval Office while 48 percent said they had an unfavorable view of his performance in the White House so far. Women and independents were mostly responsible for his dismal approval ratings in the Great Lakes State.
However, the survey of 600 Michigan voters, conducted from Jan. 30 to Feb. 2, found that the president remains fairly popular in the areas of the state that backed him most notably in November. In Macomb County, 51 percent viewed him favorably compared to 41 percent in Oakland County and 28 percent in Wayne County. In northern Michigan, including rural areas that awarded him with big winning margins in November, he was still viewed favorably by 58 percent of those surveyed.
The poll results were first reported by the Detroit Free Press, which commissioned the survey, under this highly misleading headline: “Support for Trump still solid in Michigan.”
Reflective of the huge partisan divides across the country, the Michigan poll found that 72 percent of self-identified “strong conservatives” back the president and a whopping 97 percent of “strong” tea party supporters have a favorable opinion of Trump’s first weeks in office.
For Hillary Clinton supporters, the poll numbers may be particularly infuriating as they show levels of Trump disapproval that surely would have prevented him from carrying Michigan – if they had prevailed in November and the Clinton camp did a better job of turning out their core constituencies.
Only 3 percent of African-American voters have a favorable rating for the new president. Among women, approval is at 37 percent and independent voters weigh in with just 44 percent on the positive side.
Trump might be quietly stewing over the poll results that found former President Obama with a 59 percent approval rating in Michigan, compared to 37 percent disapproval.
And Gov. Rick Snyder, despite the bipartisan, widespread criticism he has faced over the Flint water crisis for two years, prevails over Trump with a 44 percent approval rating and 46 percent disapproval.
