New poll shows Mich. residents have doubts, some hopes on economic prospects

Creative Commons photo by visciousplatypus via Flickr)

LANSING — A new poll released Thursday evening shows that Michigan residents continue to be gloomy about the current state of the economy, but have some optimism that the state’s fortunes could turn around next year. Additionally, the poll shows that Michigan voters hold President Obama in much higher regard than their own governor, Democrat Jennifer Granholm.

A new poll conducted by Lansing-based EPIC MRA for The Detroit News, WXYZ television in Detroit, WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids, WILX in Lansing and WJRT in Flint.

The poll also found that many residents would support changes to the state’s tax code including adoption of a graduated income tax, expansion of the sales tax to services and levying more taxes on alcohol and tobacco.

Of the 600 voters polled, 52 percent felt the nation was on the wrong track, while 75 percent said the state was on the wrong track. Seventeen percent of those polled said neither Republicans nor Democrats could fix the problems, while 35 percent said Democrats could, and 32 percent threw their support behind Republicans.

Only 32 percent of respondents gave Granholm a positive job performance review, while 40 percent approved of U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow had a favorability rating of 40 percent. President Obama received a 57-percent job approval performance.

On a somewhat optimistic note, 41 percent of respondents believe the economy will be better next year.

The poll also evaluated views on how lawmakers are handling the state’s $1.7-billion budget hole.

To fix that gap, 46 percent said they favored a combination of budget cuts and revenue increases like taxes or fees charged by the state. Only 4 percent would support filling the gap with tax increases alone, while 34 percent said cut the budget.

Interestingly, 54 percent said the budget could be balanced on cuts alone.

In terms of where to cut the budget, 27 percent said the cuts should be made to the state legislature, 11 percent said cuts to state workers and 6 percent said the prison budget.

When presented with the fact the funding for the state legislature represents on 9 percent of the state budget, or about $115 million, 8 percent of respondents said an across-the-board cut was necessary, while 5 percent each said prisons, local schools, roads and bridges, state workers and substance abuse programs.

Sixteen percent of respondents said they would support increases to tobacco and alcohol taxes to close the budget gap, while 11 percent said they would support a sales-tax increase, and 10 percent said they would support an income-tax increase.

Fifty-five percent said they would oppose a move to increase the state’s income tax by 1 percent, from 4.35 percent to 5.35 percent, while 53 percent said they would oppose an expansion of the sales tax to services. But when asked to presume that taxes would have to be increased to fill the budget gap, 46 percent said they would support a sales tax increase, 35 percent would support an income tax increase, and 15 percent said they would not support any tax increase.

When asked if the sales tax were decreased from 6 percent to 5 percent by expanded to include services, but not prescriptions and food, 52 percent supported such a move, 39 percent opposed it.

Asked if they would support a graduated income, meaning those making more money would pay more taxes, 54 percent of those polled said they would support such a move, while 38 percent opposed it.

When asked if they would support eliminating the controversial Michigan business tax, and replacing it with an expansion of the sales tax and elimination of the film tax credit incentive, 57 percent opposed the idea, while 30 percent supported it. Sixty-eight percent said they would oppose eliminating business taxes altogether.

The poll was conducted June 23-25, and June 27-28. Pollsters interviewed 600 respondents, and the poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.