Snyder leads Bernero by 12 points in Michigan governor contest

Republican Rick Snyder starts the general election campaign with a double-digit lead over Democrat Virg Bernero in the first Rasmussen Reports survey of the Michigan governor’s race following Tuesday’s party primaries.

Snyder earns 49% of the vote, while Bernero, currently the mayor of Lansing, picks up 37% support. Three percent (3%) favor some other candidate in the race, and 11% remain undecided.

In early June, Snyder posted a 42% to 30% lead over Bernero, who defeated state House Speaker Andy Dillon to claim his party’s nomination. Snyder, a wealthy businessman, claimed the GOP nomination by defeating Congressman Peter Hoekstra and state Attorney General Mike Cox.

Eighty-six percent (86%) of Republicans now support Snyder, while 79% of Democrats favor Bernero. Voters not affiliated with either major party prefer the Republican by better than three-to-one.

Sixty percent (60%) of Michigan’s voters now rate the economy as poor. Just five percent (5%) think it is good or excellent. Bleak as these numbers are, just 28% believe the economy is getting better, but 42% say it is getting worse.

Sixty-six percent (66%) of voters who think the economy is improving prefer Bernero. Fifty-nine percent (59%) of those who say it’s getting worse favor Snyder.

Perhaps tellingly, Barack Obama carried Michigan with 57% of the vote in the 2008 election, but just 46% now approve of his performance as president. Fifty-four percent (54%) disapprove. This is comparable to Obama’s approval ratings nationally in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll.