Most Michigan voters support increasing the time frame for in-person voting and preparing absentee ballots before Election Day, but don’t completely support offering income tax credits to private school donors, according to a new WDIV/Detroit News poll.
In a survey conducted between Aug. 29 and Sept. 1, Michigan voters showed their preferences for potential proposals that would allow tax credits for private school donors, allow seven days of early in-person voting, and allow clerks to process absentee ballots up to a week before Election Day.
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Here are some of the key findings from this portion of the survey:
Private school tax credits
- A majority of Michigan voters, 44%, oppose a proposal that would give state income tax credits to financial donors who contribute money to cover the cost of private or religious education for other children.
- A large portion of voters, 38.4%, said they would support such a proposal.
- 28.6% of voters “strongly oppose,” while 20.9% of voters “strongly support” such a proposal.
- 16.6% of voters are undecided on this issue.
- Democratic voters were more likely to oppose the proposal, but voters identifying as “strong Republican” were still relatively split on the issue -- with 41.5% opposing compared to 48.8% supporting.
Early voting, processing ballots
A majority of Michigan voters are supportive of efforts to increase the time frame for early in-person voting, and for clerks to process absent voter ballots ahead of Election Day.
- A majority of Michigan voters, 61.3%, said they would support a proposal that would allow for seven days of early in-person voting ahead of Election Day, including the weekend before the election.
- 33.3% of Michigan voters said they would oppose a proposal allowing for seven extra days of early in-person voting before elections in Michigan.
- 41.1% of voters “strongly support” early voting, while 25.7% of voters “strongly oppose” the early voting.
- Support for an early voting proposal is higher among Democratic voters than Republican voters.
- 88% of “strong Democratic” and 80.4% of leaning Democratic voters support the proposal.
- 63% of Independent voters support the proposal.
- 62% of “strong Republican” and 58% of leaning Republican voters oppose the proposal.
- A strong majority of Michigan voters, 73%, said they would support a proposal allowing local clerks to verify and process absentee ballots up to seven days before Election Day so that election results could be reported sooner after polls close.
- 21.2% of Michigan voters said they would oppose a proposal allowing clerks to verify and process absentee ballots up to seven days before Election Day.
- 49.3% of voters “strongly support” the proposal.
- 17.1% of voters “strongly oppose” the proposal.
Methodology
The Glengariff Group, Inc. conducted a Michigan statewide survey of November 2022 likely general election voters. The 600 sample, live operator telephone survey was conducted on August 29-September 1, 2022 and has a margin of error of +/-4.0% with a 95% level of confidence. 28.0% of respondents were contacted via landline telephone. 72.0% of respondents were contacted via cell phone telephone. This survey was commissioned by WDIV Local 4 News and the Detroit News.
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