CLOSUP Opinion Poll of Michigan's Local Government Leaders Appears in Multiple News Sources

A pair of Associated Press stories about a recent Center for Local, State and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) poll on the performance of Rick Snyder's government and the state legislature appeared in a wide variety of Michigan news sources today, including the e">Detroit Free Press, Michigan Radio,, Channel Eleven News, Channel Seven News, CBS Moneywatch, and ClickOn Detroit.

The results of the poll show that of local government leaders - county administrators, mayors, township supervisors, and other officials - half feel that Michigan is on the wrong track. Just 37 percent of the officials gave Governor Snyder a positive rating, 53 percent gave him a rating of fair or poor, and ten percent were undecided. Twenty-one percent gave the state legislature a positive rating, while 73 percent gave it a rating of fair or poor, with six percent undecided.

These results are more positive than those reported at the end of Jennifer Granholm's term, but still show a substantial lack of faith in Lansing lawmakers, who cut funding to local governments and appointed powerful financial managers to oversee areas defined as "in financial crisis." Thomas Ivacko told the Associated Press that the Snyder administration's new policy changes are creating anxiety about the state's direction because they are "so high-profile and such high impact." He added that they are "reshaping the state-local government relationship in pretty significant ways."

Read the full CLOSUP report.