Democrats have maintained leads in key races across Michigan ahead of the upcoming November election, the latest WDIV/Detroit News poll shows.
In Michigan races, including Governor, Senate, Attorney General and Secretary of State races, Democrats have held double-digit leads since at least September.
The latest poll, released this week following two gubernatorial debates, shows Democrats holding onto double-digit leads in major races.
The poll also continues to show historic voter motivation in Michigan.
Here are some the key findings:
Whitmer maintains lead over Schuette in Michigan governor's race
Michigan Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gretchen Whitmer continues to lead Republican challenger Bill Schuette by double digits heading into the November election, a new poll finds.
The latest WDIV/Detroit news poll shows a wide lead for Whitmer in the race for Michigan governor. Whitmer has led by double digits since at least September.
- In a head to head matchup, Whitmer continues to lead Schuette 49.8 percent-37.5 percent -- a lead of 12.3 percent. Third party candidates get 3.7 percent of the vote with 9.0 percent of voters remaining undecided. Whitmer’s lead has remained consistent since Labor Day.
Stabenow keeps double-digit lead over James in US Senate race
Michigan U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow continues to lead Republican challenger John James by double-digits heading into the November election.
The latest WDIV/Detroit News poll shows Stabenow with a comfortable lead over John James, holding a 16.7 percent edge.
- In a head to head matchup, Debbie Stabenow continues to lead John James by a margin of 53.0 percent-36.3 percent -- a lead of 16.7 percent.
- James has marginally chipped into Stabenow’s lead since early September – but his challenge remains that 30 percent of voters do not recognize his name. And Stabenow has consistently polled above the 50 percent level.
All 3 statewide proposals above 50 percent support
Proposal 1 - Legalization of Marijuana: By a margin of 57.0 percent-40.2 percent, Michigan voters support the passage of Proposal 1. This is a slight decrease from early October. But it is consistent with our polling conducted throughout 2018 on this issue. There are only 2.8 percent undecided voters on Proposal 1.
Proposal 2 - Anti-gerrymandering: By a margin of 58.5 percent-26.5 percent, voters support passage of Proposal 2, with 15.0 percent remaining undecided.
Proposal 3 - Voter Access, Absentee Voting: By a margin of 68.5 percent-21.7 percent, voters support passage of Proposal 3, with 9.8 percent remaining undecided.
Democrats lead in Michigan Attorney General, Secretary of State races
Democrats running for Michigan Attorney General and Secretary of State lead their Republican challengers, despite many voters not knowing the candidates.
The latest WDIV/Detroit News poll shows support for Democrats in both races, while also showing less than one third of Michigan voters recognize any of the four candidates running for these two offices.
As a result of little name identification, these races appear to be reverting to the generic ballot test, which favors Democrats.
- In the race for Attorney General, Dana Nessel leads Tom Leonard by a margin of 44.9 percent-34.2 percent, with 16.5 percent undecided – a margin of 10.7 percent.
- In the race for Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson leads Mary Trader Lang by a margin of 45.0 percent-33.6 percent, with 16.8 percent undecided – a margin of 11.4 percent.
You can check out the full poll results below:
METHODOLOGY
The Glengariff Group, Inc. conducted a Michigan statewide survey of November 2018 likely general election voters. The 600 sample, live operator telephone survey was conducted on October 25-27, 2018 and has a margin of error of +/-4.0 percent with a 95 percent level of confidence. 65.0 percent of respondents were contacted via landline telephone. 35.0 percent of respondents were contacted via cell phone telephone. This survey was commissioned by WDIV Local 4 and the Detroit News.