Despite improvement since the COVID-19 pandemic, more than half of Michigan local officials say the state is on the wrong track.
These findings are from the latest installment of the Michigan Public Policy Survey conducted by the University of Michigan's Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy. Since 2011, the statewide survey has tracked the connection between local officials' partisanship and their views on the direction the state is headed.
Data for 2025 shows 51% of local officials believe Michigan is on the wrong track. That dissatisfaction has continued to drop from the series high of 67% in 2021 and more recently 59% in 2023. Still, pessimism is higher than pre-COVID levels, when typically around 30-35% of local officials believed the state was on the wrong track.
Just under a third (32%) of local officials believe the state is generally going in the right direction, a slight improvement from 30% in 2023 and from the series low of 23% in 2021. Overall, 17% are unsure about the direction the state is headed—a jump from 11% expressing uncertainty two years ago.
The questionnaire doesn't define wrong track or right direction for respondents, according to Debra Horner, the survey's senior program manager. It's more of a "vibe check" common in many nationwide opinion polls or surveys conducted over the years.
As in previous iterations of this survey, responses fall heavily along party lines. About two-thirds of this year's survey respondents self-identify as Republicans, while 17% say they are independents, and 21% identify as Democrats.
"We consistently find that attitudes about the direction the state is headed are strongly linked to local leaders' partisan identification in relation to the party that controls the governor's office," Horner said. "In other words, Republican local leaders generally express more optimism about the state's direction when a Republican is governor and less when a Democrat is in office, while the reverse is true among Democratic local leaders.
"This year, the shift in control of the State House of Representatives after the 2024 election may also have Republican local leaders expressing slightly more optimism."
Additional findings from the survey:
- Local leaders' assessments of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s performance remain stable. This year, less than a third (30%) of local leaders statewide rate Whitmer's performance as "excellent" or “good," essentially unchanged since 2021 and strongly associated with the political party of the respondent.
- Ratings for the Michigan Legislature remain low but slightly improved. Relatively few local leaders overall believe lawmakers are doing an outright excellent or good job (18%). Ratings of "fair" improved to 48% in 2025.
The survey was conducted April 7-June 12. Respondents include county, city, township and village officials from 1,328 jurisdictions across the state, resulting in a 72% response rate by unit.
