LANSING – A new poll from Public Policy Polling – the firm’s first among likely voters – shows President Barack Obama and U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow are the clear favorites at the moment.

PPP’s poll shows Obama with a 7 percentage point lead over Republican nominee Mitt Romney, 51 percent to 44 percent.

The same poll showed Stabenow (D-Lansing) with a 9-point lead over her Republican challenger, former U.S. Rep. Peter Hoekstra.

The poll shows Romney has still not connected with residents in the state, despite being born and raised here. Among respondents, 57 percent did not consider him to be a Michigander, while just 34 percent do. His favorability rating is also upside down in the state, with 49 percent having an unfavorable view of the former Massachusetts governor, and 45 percent with a positive view.

In addition, Obama is given more credit for the auto industry’s turnaround. The poll found that 53 percent of likely voters think the president has been better for the car companies, compared to Romney at 31 percent. Of those polled, 80 percent said the record of the candidate on the automotive industry was important to them.

The automated poll, conducted from Friday to Sunday and released on Monday, of 815 respondents, has as error rate of plus-or-minus 3.4 percentage points.

There was not much of a bounce for Romney in the state coming out of his convention last week, the poll showed. Thirty percent said it made them more likely to vote for Romney, and 35 percent said it made them less likely to support him. Another 35 percent said it made no difference.

Of the big names who spoke at the convention, former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice received some of the highest marks with a speech that was widely praised, and had a 64 percent favorability rating. Romney’s wife Ann had a 51 percent favorability rating.

And the man with easily the oddest speech of the convention, actor Clint Eastwood, who still is viewed favorably by 74 percent of respondents, did not receive as good of reviews for his speech.

During the convention, Eastwood talked to an empty chair for 12 minutes where the audience was to imagine an invisible Obama was sitting. Of those polled, 41 percent had an unfavorable opinion of the speech, while 34 percent viewed it favorably.

“Barack Obama probably won’t come close to winning Michigan by the margin he did in 2008,” Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling said in a statement. “But he’s still the very clear favorite there.”

In Stabenow’s race, she continues to lead Hoekstra 50 percent to 41 percent. She also has more support from her base, with 88 percent of Democrats backing her, compared to 81 percent of Republicans supporting Hoekstra after he emerged last month from a primary.

The poll from the Democratic firm found Stabenow also with the lead among independents, 53 percent to 36 percent.

But it was not all positive news for Stabenow. Her job performance rating is split at 43 percent each of those who approve and disapprove of what she has done. But Hoekstra still has a 39 percent unfavorable rating, with 32 percent viewing him favorably. That number for Hoekstra has remained relatively steady since his controversial Super Bowl ad in February.

Of those polled, 33 percent identified themselves as Democrats, 34 percent as Republican and 33 percent as independent or other. And 84 percent of respondents were white, 11 percent black and 6 percent other.

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