Incumbent Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer holds a significant lead over Tudor Dixon, her GOP challenger, in a new poll just over 6 weeks ahead of the upcoming gubernatorial election in Michigan.
Results from the poll, which surveyed 600 likely Michigan voters and was published by the Lansing-based research firm EPIC-MRA, shows Whitmer with a 16-point advantage over Dixon and revealed that a large amount of Michigan residents have a negative view on how President Biden has performed in the White House.
Asked who they would vote for if the gubernatorial race were held today, 39% of respondents said they would vote for Dixon or lean toward voting for Dixon, and 55% said they would vote for Whitmer or lean toward voting for her.
A total of 52% of those surveyed said they hold a favorable view of Whitmer, compared to 24% who said the same for Dixon. Sixteen percent of respondents stated they did not recognize Dixon’s name during the survey.
Voters were evenly split on Whitmer’s job performance as the state’s current governor, with 49% stating they had an “excellent” or “pretty good” rating of her job performance and another 49% stating they hold a “poor” or “very poor” rating of her performance.
Biden, who won Michigan’s 16 electoral votes in the 2020 presidential election, appears to have lost much of his good standing. Of those surveyed, 51% said they hold an unfavorable view of Biden, and 44% said they held a favorable view.
Asked to rate Biden’s performance as president, 63% gave him a “poor” or “very poor” rating, compared to only 35% who gave him an “excellent” or “pretty good” rating.
Asked about a hypothetical rematch election between Biden and former President Trump in 2024, 44% said they would vote for, or lean toward voting for Trump if the election were held today, compared to 48% who said the same for Biden.
Respondents also sounded off on their views about the current economic climate and employment situation in Michigan, with 60% of likely voters giving current conditions on both a 60% total negative rating and 36% giving both a total positive rating.
Whitmer and Dixon, who will meet for a debate Oct. 13 in Grand Rapids, will go head to head in the state’s November 8 gubernatorial election.
The EPIC-MRA poll, conducted from Sept. 15-22, was released Wednesday and has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.
