LANSING – Big majorities of Michigan voters say both the state and nation are headed in the wrong direction, according to a poll released Thursday.
Only 15 percent said the nation was going in the right direction with a whopping 74 percent saying it is on the wrong track, the poll from Lansing-based Marketing Resource Group said. In Michigan, the numbers were somewhat better, but still bad with 24 percent saying the state is headed in the right direction, but 66 percent saying it was not.
“If pessimism breeds contempt, political leaders should be wary of voters in 2012,” said Tom Shields, president of Marketing Resource Group. “The sustained high wrong track numbers show voter pessimism to be deep-seated and achingly real with optimism long gone. After eight years of sustained wrong track numbers, voters are negative, beleaguered and impatient for change.”
Shields said the pessimism was hurting the re-election numbers of President Barack Obama and U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Lansing). Just 29 percent said they would vote to re-elect Obama with 41 percent saying they would give a new person a chance. Just 27 percent said they would vote to re-elect Stabenow with 31 percent saying they wanted to try someone new.
The survey was commissioned by MRG and conducted between September 14-19 with 600 likely voters through telephone interviews. The error margin is plus or minus 4 percentage points.
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