LANSING – Michigan residents are a little more concerned over the direction of the economy than they were earlier in the year, according to the latest State of the State Survey, but they still thought their personal financial situations were in the best shape they had been since 2005.

The survey, conducted by the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at Michigan State University, also showed more voters leaning toward President Barack Obama and more Republicans undecided about supporting Mitt Romney.

The survey, the 62nd edition of the review of Michigan sentiment on economics and politics, also found that Governor Rick Snyder had slightly higher approval ratings. But Charles Ballard, director of the survey and an economics professor at Michigan State, said the reviews on Snyder were “so-so.”

The survey was conducted from June 12, 2012 to August 13, 2012 and done of 1,015 residents in the state. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.08 percentage points.

The political questions were asked of slightly more than 800 respondents in the group who self-identified as likely voters. This slightly increased the margin of error to about 3.5 percentage points.

The surveys were completed slightly before the Republican and Democratic National Conventions.

The survey showed the Democrat Obama leading Republican Romney 38.9 percent to 29.8 percent.

Ballard said if all the undecided Democrats decided to vote for Obama and all the undecided Republicans decided to vote for Romney that would move the race to a 49 percent/43 percent split Obama/Romney.

The survey showed that Obama was favored by both men and women, though the margin of support for Obama was much wider among women (44.6 percent to 34.2 percent for Romney).

Romney was fractionally favored among white voters, with 33.2 percent compared to 32.9 percent for Obama. Black voters favored Obama 76.7 percent to 0.5 percent for Romney, and Hispanic voters favored Obama 85.4 percent to 8.2 percent for Romney. But Ballard said the number of Hispanic voters sampled was not statistically significant.

Obama led in southeast Michigan, 41.4 percent to 29.7 percent. Romney led in the Grand Rapids area 30.5 percent to 26.1 percent.

Obama led in all the age groups, though his support was narrowest in voters between 30 and 64, leading Romney 34.1 percent to 33 percent. But he led with voters 65 and older, 39.8 percent to 30.5 percent, and among voters 18 to 29, 54.5 percent to 17.2 percent.

Romney led 33.5 percent to 30.2 percent among married voters, but Obama led 55.3 percent to 11.6 percent among single voters and 46.9 percent to 25.2 percent among voters who were divorced, widowed or separated. And among those that supported gay marriage, Obama led 48.5 percent to 14.8 percent. Romney led those opposed to gay marriage, but by a much narrower margin, 37.9 percent to 32.7 percent.

Despite his support, Obama job approval remained “mediocre,” Ballard said, at 41 percent saying he was doing an excellent or good job, just slightly higher than the 40.6 percent than gave him an excellent or good job rating in the spring. At his lowest in the fall of 2010, he had a 32.7 percent job rating. He had a 70.7 percent rating when he first took office.

And Snyder’s ratings improved slightly to 36.8 percent saying he had an excellent or good rating. In the spring, his excellent and good rating was 33 percent.

In the fall of 2011, his excellent/good approval rating was down to 19.3 percent. When he took office in the winter of 2011, his rating was at 44.5 percent.

But in terms of overall consumer confidence, the results were a bit of a mixed bag. Ballard suspected the mixed results may have been due in part to increasing unemployment during the summer, and to a perceived slowdown in the economy.

“The economic momentum of 2010 and 2011 seems to have fallen off,” Ballard said.

A total of 54.4 percent of the respondents said their financial situation was excellent or good, slightly higher than the 54.1 percent who so reported in the spring survey.

That was the highest report of conditions being excellent or good since the 54.9 percent who reported that in 2005. But it was still below the 64.1 percent who reported their financial condition was excellent or good in 1997. It was also far higher than the 43.4 percent who so reported in 2007.

However, asked if they were better or worse than the year before, just 34.2 percent said they were better while 38.5 percent said they were worse off.

In the spring survey, 37.1 percent of the respondents said they were better off than the year before, while 35.7 percent said they were worse off.

And asked if they thought they would be better off in another year, 48.7 percent said they thought they would be better off than during the summer of 2012. But in the spring survey, the number was 61 percent.

Another 29.8 percent thought they would be worse off in another year. In the spring survey, 20.5 percent said they thought they would be worse off in 2013.

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