Poll: Whitmer Has Double-Digit Lead Over Schuette

MICHIGAN — A new poll has shown that Democratic candidate Gretchen Whitmer has a double-digit lead over Republican candidate Bill Schuette in Michigan’s race for governor. WDIV and Detroit News partnered up to produce the poll, which shows that Whitmer holds a 13.7% lead over Schuette.

Here is what the poll found:

• Bill Schuette has 88.4 percent name identification, breaking 26.2 percent favorable to 41.3 percent unfavorable. Bill Schuette’s name identification is under water by 14.1 percent.
  • Independents have an unfavorable opinion of Bill Schuette with only 18.7 percent viewing him favorably while 37.4 percent view him unfavorably.
  • Schuette is viewed unfavorably by independent voters by a 2-1 margin.
• Gretchen Whitmer has 80.9 percent name identification, breaking 39.3 percent favorable to 19.1 percent unfavorable.
• Independents have a favorable opinion of Gretchen Whitmer with 35.0 percent viewing her favorably and 14.6 percent viewing her unfavorably.
• Whitmer leads among Independent voters by a margin of 39.0-25.2 percent -- a 13.8 percent lead.

Whitmer is very popular among women, the poll found. She leads among men 46.3 percent-39.8 percent -- a 6.5 percent lead. But Whitmer holds a lead of 53.2 percent-32.5 percent among women – a lead of 20.7 percent. Whitmer leads women of all education levels.

Schuette only leads among men with a high school education at 47.6 percent-36.1 percent. Whitmer leads among men with some post high education by a margin of 50.0 percent-36.1 percent and among college educated men 48.4 percent-38.4 percent.

The survey was commissioned by the two news outlets and polled 600 likely general election voters over a live telephone survey conducted at the beginning of September. It has a margin of error of +/-4.0 percent with a 95 percent level of confidence.

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