Back in 2010, Rick Snyder was a relative unknown in Michigan at this point in the midterm election cycle. In fact, he didn’t crack 50% on name recognition until the after the primary election in August.
In contrast, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Schauer is known by over 60% of the electorate according to recent polling by Mitchell Research (pdf). Not only that, he is now only 5 points behind the incumbent Republican who enjoys over 95% name recognition. Snyder is ahead 46-41%, a margin that was 12 points just a couple of months ago in the previous Mitchell poll. Gov. Snyder is still under 50% favorable rating, as well.
Polls this early tell us little about the final outcome of the race. However, this poll shows that Mark Schauer’s efforts to introduce himself and his policies to the voters of Michigan is working and, the more people get to know him, the better his number look against Republican Rick Snyder.
That, combined with the Democrats’ unprecedented field organization this year bode well for a very competitive race.
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