Michigan’s Top Three Elected Officials are Nation’s Most Unpopular

Michigan’s Governor and two U.S. Senators are collectively the most unpopular trio in the country, according to a new survey conducted by Morning Consult, a weekly online polling firm.

Gov. Rick Snyder finished 46th of 49 governors in popularity, with one governor (in North Carolina) not evaluated because he took the job just two months ago.

U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) ranked 99th of 100 U.S. senators, and his colleague Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), who will be running for her third term next year, ranked 85th out of 100.

No other state has its top three statewide elected officials — Governor and U.S. Senator — finishing as poorly as a group as Michigan. New Jersey, Kentucky and Missouri all come close, but they each have at least one of their top politicians finishing high enough in the rankings to save them from ignominy.

Gov. Snyder has actually improved his rating from Morning Consult’s last survey, published last September when he had only 33% approval and 61% disapproval. In the latest poll, he’s up to 40% approval, 54% disapproval. However, even former Alabama Gov. Bob Bentley, who was forced to resign this week in a sex-and-coverup scandal, was rated higher than Snyder before he was forced to step down.

Peters actually has plurality support among those who have any opinion about him — 39% approval, 27% disapproval. Problem is, a third of Michiganders (34%) have no opinion of him, meaning primarily they have no idea who he is or what he’s done to merit consideration.

Stabenow has been in public office at some level for more than four decades (with one two-year hiatus), yet 16% have no opinion about her performance, either. But she’s viewed a little more favorably (and unfavorably) than Peters — 47% give her a favorable approval rating, while 38% rate her unfavorably.

Morning Consult surveyed more than 85,000 registered voters over a three-month period, from January through the end of March. Morning Consult obtained an up-to-date list of Governors and U.S. Senators from Sunlight Foundation’s Congress API v3 and Open States API. Survey respondents were assigned to their appropriate Governor and both U.S. Senators based on their state of residence. The firm obtained population parameters for registered voters from the November 2012 Current Population Survey (CPS) and applied post-stratification weights based on gender, age, education attainment, and race.

The most popular Governor in the MC survey was Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican in a heavily “blue” state. Close behind was another Governor in the same situation — Maryland’s Larry Hogan. All 10 of the most popular governors were Republicans (that may sound suspicious, but consider that nearly two-thirds of all the nation’s governors are Republicans.) For example, the most UNPOPULAR governor was also an Republican — New Jersey’s Chris Christie.

The most popular U.S. Senator was Vermont Democrat Bernie Sanders. Six of the 10 most popular U.S. Senators are Democrats. The most unpopular U.S. Senator is the Senate Majority Leader —Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell, a Republican.

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