It’s been more than three years since Rick Snyder took the reins of power in Michigan and, despite having Republicans in charge of both chambers of the legislature along with all of the major administration posts, his favorability is still under 50% with 52% giving him failing grade.
Among the data was a question asking how voters would rate the job Rick Snyder has done as Michigan’s governor. Since Snyder is a Republican and voters in Detroit are overwhelmingly Democratic, you might expect Snyder to do really well outside the city. But 52% of voters rated Gov. Snyder as having done a fair to poor job; 46% thought he’d done a pretty good to excellent job.
It gets worse: those poll results do not include voters in Detroit.
Meanwhile, Republican House Speaker Jase Bolger seems bound and determined to wreck Gov. Snyder’s reelection bid. If his bizarre insistence that unions contribute millions to resolve Detroit’s bankruptcy derails the current Grand Bargain which would protect the pensions of retired Detroit workers (many of whom no longer live in Detroit) and the priceless art collection held in trust for the entire state by the Detroit Institute of Arts, Snyder’s numbers are sure to nose dive. It will be hard for him to claim the mantle of “leadership” if the deal is allowed to collapse because his own party sabotaged it and more Michigan voters feel that getting Detroit back on its feet is of paramount importance than don’t.
Mark Schauer still trails Snyder in the polls but the more people get to know him and the more Snyder’s failings are revealed, the more tenuous that lead becomes.
If you’ve been sitting on the sidelines, now is the time to get involved in turning out Democratic voters for the November midterm election. When Democrats show up to vote, Democrats win.
Let’s not have a repeat of 2010.
[Caricature by DonkeyHotey from photos by Anne C. Savage for Eclectablog]
