DETROIT – Bernie Sanders would be a stronger candidate against Donald Trump in Michigan than Hillary Clinton, according to a new statewide survey.
The survey also revealed Michigan voters think the nation and their state are sharply on the wrong track. Meanwhile, Michigan voters, overall, think Detroit is on the right track. However, out-state voters think Detroit is on the wrong track while southeast Michigan voters think Detroit is on the right track. The survey results also show metro Detroit voters believe in Detroit.
As for Washington and Lansing leadership, according to the voters surveyed, President Obama’s numbers are at 50-40 (50 percent in favor of the job he is doing) while Gov. Rick Snyder’s numbers have collapsed due to Independent voters turning against him. There is an intense disapproval of Snyder, but there is very little intensity in his approval.
View/download: Full survey results
Michigan voters not excited for election
As for the upcoming November election, surveyed voters are remarkably unexcited about it with Independents being so unexcited about their choices that it is questionable to what degree they will even engage in the election. At this stage, strong Republican voters are significantly less engaged than strong Democratic voters. The most engaged voters, by far, are Detroiters and African American voters.
Michigan voters do not favor Trump, Clinton
Both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have negatives approaching 60 percent, according to this survey. But Clinton does a much better job of keeping her Democratic base than Trump does his GOP base. Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders has done major damage to Clinton among Independents and leaning Democratic voters. Clinton is more unpopular with Independent voters than Trump. Sanders is the only candidate untouched and still liked by voters.
Clinton leads Trump in Michigan; Sanders leads Trump even more
Clinton leads Trump by 4.5 percent (Obama led Mitt Romney at this stage by 5.5 percent). But Sanders leads Trump by 18.7 percent -- Sanders leads Trump 51.7 percent to 33 percent. At this stage Sanders is a wildly stronger candidate against Trump in Michigan than Clinton. The addition of the Libertarian vote does not change the equation, even though he takes 11.5 percent of the vote.
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