LANSING – A poll released Wednesday showed Governor Rick Snyder up by 6 percentage points over his Democratic rival Mark Schauer, and GOP officials said the results show that Snyder’s message that Michigan is coming back is resonating with the public.
The poll also came out as the Michigan Republican Party hammered harder on the idea that Schauer’s election would take the state back economically a decade, by jumping on comments made by Democratic Lt. Governor candidate Lisa Brown in a radio interview that years under former Governor Jennifer Granholm “weren’t as bad as we think.”
A spokesperson for Schauer could not be reached for comment.
The poll was released by the national firm Rasmussen Results – generally viewed as a slightly Republican leaning firm – and showed Snyder supported by 47 percent of those polled to 41 percent support for Schauer. Another 9 percent were undecided and 3 percent supported one of the minority party candidates.
The poll was conducted of 750 likely voters and has a margin of error of 4 percent.
The poll shows one of the widest leads for Snyder in some time, but it also was released a couple days after a poll by a firm called WeAskAmerica showed the race a dead heat at 43 percent support for both candidates.
Real Clear Politics, a website that aggregates articles on politics as well as polls, showed that results of the last six released polls show Snyder with an advantage of 2.3 percentage points, making the race still a virtual tie.
The Rasmussen poll was conducted on September 17 and September 18 using automated calling.
A number of elements in the gubernatorial election campaign have picked up in the last week since the poll was conducted, including both campaigns agreeing to do a town hall-style debate on October 12 at Wayne State University in Detroit; the Democratic Governors Association launching a new ad attacking Snyder for imposing the income tax on pensions (the ad was called by Dan Pero, a top Republican strategist who managed the 1990 campaign that former Governor John Engler won, “effective” and “hard-hitting”); and the Michigan GOP slamming Brown for her comments on the years under Granholm.
Emily Benavides, spokesperson for Snyder, said the poll results show that Snyder’s positive message of restoring the state’s economy is attracting voters.
She also said that message is borne out in a recent study that shows the state has gained in overall competitiveness.
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