Lansing — Support in Michigan for native son Mitt Romney is far ahead of the backing for any other GOP presidential hopefuls, according to a new statewide poll.
The poll was taken after Romney's June 9 visit to Detroit and the June 13 GOP debate in which he made clear his opposition to the federal bailouts of General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, which many credit with saving the automakers and their suppliers.
In the poll of 600 likely voters, 28.7 percent said they would vote for Romney in an open Michigan primary.
Of the five other names offered to voters, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was second with 5.8 percent support, Michele Bachmann was third at 4.5 percent, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty was fourth at 2.8 percent and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was fifth at 1.8 percent.
U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Livonia, whose name was offered in the poll after he said in May he is mulling a presidential bid, polled last at 1.7 percent.
Another 26 percent were undecided, 18 percent said they wouldn't vote in the primary, and 8 percent said they didn't like any names mentioned.
The poll was commissioned by the bipartisan Lansing public relations firm Lambert, Edwards & Associates and The Perricone Group and conducted June 16-17 by Denno Research. Chuck Perricone is a former GOP House Speaker. Dennis Denno is a former Democratic communications expert.
In other findings:
Gov. Rick Snyder got high approval from 28 percent; medium approval from 31 percent; and low approval from 30 percent.
President Barack Obama got high approval from 38 percent; medium approval from 27 percent; and low approval from 33 percent.
Sen. Debbie Stabenow got high approval from 34 percent; medium approval from 28 percent; and low approval from 22 percent.
For the state House elections in 2012, 32 percent said they would vote Democratic, 29 percent said they would vote Republican, and 37 percent were undecided.
http://www.detnews.com/article/20110623/POLITICS02/106230408/1022/Romney-ahead-in-Michigan-poll
