-With gay marriage legal in Michigan now voters want to take the next step and ban discrimination against LGBT people in employment and housing. 68% support a law making it illegal to fire or deny housing in Michigan because someone is gay, lesbian, or transgender to only 25% who are opposed. 56% of voters say they would ‘strongly’ support such legislation. There’s a bipartisan consensus on the issue with 76% of Democrats, 66% of independents, and 60% of Republican in support.
Voters are also quite opposed to two anti-gay GOP legislative efforts going on right now. Only 34% think adoption agencies that receive money from the state should be allowed to deny services to families they say violate their religious beliefs, with 52% saying they should not be allowed to do that. Independents are particularly opposed to that legislation at 29/55.
There’s even less support for the proposal to make it so that only clergy can perform weddings in the state, making it harder for same sex couples to get married. Only 16% of voters support that to 69% who are opposed and the opposition on that is bipartisan with independents (13/73), Democrats (15/71), and Republicans (22/63) all firmly against it.
-Voters aren’t thrilled with the leadership they’re getting in state government. Rick Snyder has a negative approval rating with 40% of voters giving him good marks to 47% who disapprove. That’s consistent with where we’ve generally found him. The reason he got reelected anyway despite not being that popular is there are a lot of Republicans who don’t like Snyder that much but still voted for him given a Democratic alternative.
Snyder’s down right popular compared to the state legislature- it has only a 20% approval rating with 54% of voters disapproving of it. Dislike of the legislature brings people together across party lines with Republicans (33/39), independents (16/59), and Democrats (15/60) all disapproving of it. Overall 42% of voters think the state is headed in the right direction with 44% thinking it’s off on the wrong track.
-Consistent with its increasing popularity nationally, 44% of Michigan voters now say they support the Affordable Care Act to 42% who are opposed. There was a time when it was universally unpopular in key battleground states but since it’s gone into effect opposition to it has been on the decline.
-In the wake of the Charleston shootings 85% of voters support background checks for all gun purchases to only 9% of voters opposed to them. This is an exceedingly rare issue where 90% of Democrats, 85% of Republicans, and 81% of independents are all in agreement. We just don’t see that kind of agreement across party lines on just about anything.
-Michigan voters say they would support legalizing marijuana to pay for road repairs in the state, 48/42. It has strong support from young voters and the only age group that opposes it is seniors (38/50).
-It hasn’t been an amazing start to the Tigers’ season but fans aren’t jumping off the bandwagon and they’re still pretty optimistic about what lies ahead. 68% of voters in the state say they’re Tigers fans with only the Cubs at 4% and the Red Sox at 3% even rising above the 1% mark. 76% of fans still think the team will make the playoffs this year with 37% saying they think it will win the American League, and 20% the World Series. Brad Ausmus has a 43% approval rating with 12% of fans disapproving but the 45% plurality have no opinion one way or the other. Not that many fans are outwardly unhappy with Ausmus, but a lot are taking a wait and see approach.
-Michigan narrowly edges out Michigan State for college sports loyalty in the state, 37/33, with none of the smaller schools in the state getting over 4%. Michigan fans are almost universally happy with the hiring of Jim Harbaugh as their new coach- 68% approve of it to only 7% who disapprove. Some fans are evidently waiting to see the results on the field before getting too excited. Mark Dantonio has a 68/1 approval with Michigan State fans.
-59% of voters in the state say they would support Detroit hosting the 2028 Summer Olympics to only 23% who are opposed.
-2 weeks ago we found 42% of Ohioans had a favorable opinion of the state of Michigan to 30% with an unfavorable one, a much dimmer view than it had of any of its other neighbors. It turns out Michigan feels pretty much the same way- 39% of its voters see Ohio favorably to 30% with a negative one. Much of this animosity ties back to Ohio stealing the city of Toledo from Michigan in the 1830s but 72% of Michiganders think they came out ahead in the long run on that one by getting the Upper Peninsula to only 8% who would have rather had Toledo.
-Finally we asked voters in the state which their favorite of the Great Lakes is and it’s no contest- 49% say Lake Michigan to 16% for Lake Superior, 15% for Lake Huron, 6% for Lake Erie, and 3% for Lake Ontario.
Full results here
