You know who REALLY likes Rick Snyder? Nobody.
[Image by Donkey Hotey for Eclectablog. Not for reuse.]
Rick Snyder has given numerous signals that he intends to run for a second term as the Nerd in Chief of Michigan. The problem is that not only do Democrats despise him, he’s wildly unpopular among Republicans, too. He’s especially hated by the far-right tea party element of the GOP.
A Lambert, Edwards & Associates poll out last week conducted by Denno Research tells the tale. Here’s what they said in their press release titled “Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder Gets Mixed Marks on Job Performance; Few Voters Consider Him a `Centrist’”:
45 percent of 600 likely voters polled Feb. 23-24 had an unfavorable opinion of Snyder, while 38 percent had a favorable opinion and nearly 17 percent were unsure. The results showed Snyder may have some fence-building to do with fellow Republicans, since only 40 percent of GOP voters had a favorable opinion of Snyder – not that much different than Democrats, where 38 percent had a favorable opinion. The telephone poll had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.The Republican governor’s decision to sign right to work legislation – referred to by Snyder as “freedom to work” – also has hurt him with voters, the survey shows. Forty-seven percent of likely voters said they’re less likely or much less likely to vote for Snyder because he signed the legislation in December, while just 29 percent said they’re more likely or much more likely to vote for him because of that issue. Twenty percent said it would make no difference in their vote.
While three-fourths of Democrats and two-thirds of union households said they were less likely to vote for Snyder in 2014 because of right to work, a majority of independent voters – 51 percent – also said the move made them less likely to back Snyder. Only 19 percent of independent voters said they were more likely to vote for Snyder because he signed right to work legislation. Fifty-six percent of Republicans said they were more likely to vote for Snyder for supporting the issue.
In a recent email from the Tea Party of West Michigan talking about the vote to accept a grant to form a health insurance exchange in Michigan under the Affordable Care Act, you saw this:
Yesterday I was really upset over what the MI House had done to us. Or should I say half of the Republicans in the House had done to us. {…}For three years we’ve been telling them that this would break the backs of the party if they went ahead with it and they just didn’t listen. The Insurance, Hospital, and big pharma, AND THE GOVERNOR (PROBABLY QUID PRO QUO FOR HIS BRIDGE SIGN OFF BY OBAMA) turned them from their constituents. It no longer mattered what we thought. {…}
Half of the REPUBLICANS AND THE “REPUBLICAN” GOVERNOR, treated us all the same way they treated the Unions when they did this to the Unions.
(Note the use of all caps were exactly as they were in the original email.)
So Democrats don’t like him, Independents don’t like him, and the tea party REALLY doesn’t like him. Toss a widespread tax onto Michigan voters to pay for road and bridge repair so that businesses don’t have to pay another dime and you’ve got a recipe for electoral failure in the realm of a landslide. All Democrats need to do is put up a viable candidate. Let’s get going, folks.
NOTE: this post is the debut of one of several new caricatures of Governor Rick Snyder created for Eclectablog by the legendary Donkey Hotey. The images are a collaboration with our own Anne C. Savage whose photos were used for the pieces. We’ll have more about the collaboration in a subsequent post. When we ask you for donations during our quarterly fundraisers, this is the type of thing you’re helping to pay for: unique content not available anywhere else.
