LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – A new Emerson College Polling survey of Michigan voters that was conducted August 1-2, 2023 shows that President Joe Biden only gets a 43% job approval rating from Michiganders.
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Spencer Kimball, Executive Director of Emerson College Polling, adds, “Just over half of independent voters, 51%, disapprove of the job Biden is doing in office. This is a pivotal group in Michigan that Biden won over in 2020 yet is struggling with both nationally and statewide in recent surveys.”
Michigan Democrats are a little more positive than independents about Biden being the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee with 65% of them planning to support him, leaving 11% support for Robert Kennedy Jr., 5% percent for Marianne Williamson and 17% percent undecided.
On the other side of the aisle, 61% of Republican primary voters in Michigan plan to support former President Donald Trump for the 2024 nomination. 13% will support Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, 7% former Vice President Mike Pence, 4% entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, 3% former US Ambassador to the UN and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, and 2% support Senator Tim Scott. 6% percent are undecided.
In a hypothetical match-up between President Biden and former President Trump it is statistically even, each candidate receiving 44%. 8% percent would vote for “someone else” and 5% are undecided.
In the Michigan Senate race, a plurality of Democratic primary voters plan to support Rep. Elissa Slotkin for the Democratic nomination for Senate, while 8% support Actor Hill Harper. 25% percent are undecided, and 22% say they would support someone else.
In the Republican Senate primary, a whopping 68% are either undecided (29%) or would vote for someone other than the candidates listed. The only candidate with double digit support is former Rep. Mike Rogers with 12% – and he hasn’t even announced yet.
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Kimball said, “There is room for change in both the Democratic and Republican Senate primaries. While Slotkin is in the most favorable position among Democrats, she still does not hold a majority. The 47% of voters who are undecided or say they will vote for someone else reflects room for this race to change. The Republican Primary appears wide open, with no clear leader and 68% of voters choosing someone else/undecided.”
Looking at whether voters in Michigan think that their governor is doing a good job, 49% give Michigan Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer a thumbs up on their approval of her, 6% higher than the president’s approval rating.
What about issues facing Michiganders? The economy is a big concern with 35% picking the economy as the most important issue facing the state. Threats to Democracy (15%), education (10%), healthcare (9%), and housing affordability (8%) round out the top issues for voters in Michigan.
Younger voters are more concerned about housing affordability than older voters: 21% find it to be their top concern, twice as much as any other age group.
Michigan voters are also split on what they see as the greatest threat to U.S. elections. Voter fraud (38%) and suppression of individuals from voting (28%) are viewed as the greatest threats to elections, followed by foreign interference (11%) and voting machines malfunctioning (6%). 11% percent of voters say there are no threats facing U.S. elections.
There is a significant split between Republican and Democratic voters in Michigan on the greatest threat to U.S. elections; 45% of Democrats say voter suppression poses the greatest threat to elections, while a majority (58%) of Republicans say voter fraud is the greatest threat to elections.
