LANSING, Mich. — The first public, independent poll since Michigan Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Weaver’s resignation backs up the conventional wisdom that the incumbency label is golden in Supreme Court races.
Following Weaver’s Aug. 26 decision to resign and Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s appointment of Appeals Court Judge Alton Thomas “Tom” Davis to the high court, voters give Davis a slight edge for one of the spots, though most remain undecided. Current Justice Robert Young also ranks in the top three, but surprisingly falls a bit behind the Republican-nominated Mary Beth Kelly.
“Judicial races tend to fly under the radar and so far this one is no exception,” said Kelly Rossman-McKinney, CEO and founder of The Rossman Group, which conducted the survey in partnership with Team TelCom. “If Republicans are serious about making hay over the way Granholm appointed Davis, or the Democrats about ‘waking up’ the anti-Young sentiment, it’ll take some major resources to get voters to notice.”
The automated poll, conducted Sept. 7, surveyed 400 likely voters on several statewide races and has a margin of error of plus/minus 5.6 percent. The results are as follows:
Supreme Court
Alton Thomas Davis, Justice of the Supreme Court – 11.9 percent
Mary Beth Kelly – 11.8 percent
Denise Langford Morris – 8 percent
Bob Roddis – 3.8 percent
Robert Young, Justice of the Supreme Court – 9.9 percent
Undecided – 54.8 percent
Governor:
Rick Snyder – 50 percent
Virg Bernero – 31 percent
Undecided – 19 percent
Secretary of State:
Ruth Johnson – 40 percent
Jocelyn Benson – 29 percent
Undecided – 32 percent
Attorney General:
Bill Schuette – 42 percent
David Leyton – 30 percent
Undecided – 28 percent
Democratic candidates trailed Republicans in nearly every region of the state. Self-identified Independent voters preferred Republicans in every contest, but they also represented the bulk of undecideds in each matchup.
“Republicans maintain their leads but haven’t slammed the door in the faces of their Democratic challengers,” said Rossman-McKinney. “Now that we are post-Labor Day and the ad wars are about to heat up, it will be interesting to see if Republicans can cross the 50 percent threshold and hold it or if Democrats will be able to move those undecideds into their column.”
Contact: Kelly Rossman-McKinney, 517-487-9320 (office), 517-749-0529 (cell), krossman@rossmangroup.com, Josh Hovey, The Rossman Group 517-712-5829(c), 517- 487-9320(o)
