Poll shows likely voters support ‘Pure Michigan’ campaign, film credits

A poll of 600 likely voters released Sunday by EPIC-MRA found that a majority of Michigan residents support both the “Pure Michigan” advertising campaign and the state’s film incentives program, reports the Associated Press.

The poll found that 67 percent of the likely voters supported the advertising campaign, while 58 percent supported the film incentives. On the other side of the coin, 25 percent said they opposed the tourism advertising, while 33 percent opposed the film incentives.

The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points and was conducted for the Detroit Free Press and TV stations WXYZ, WJRT, WOOD and WILX.

Both have been under fire by lawmakers and political pundits as being an unwise use of taxpayer funds.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Virg Bernero told the Escanaba Daily Press:

“I don’t make a lot of promises…but I promise you, we are going to fully fund the Pure Michigan campaign,” he said. “It was working. It was clearly making money for the state.”

As for the film incentives, Bernero’s campaign manager Cullen Schwarz told the Macomb Daily:

“Virg has always said that the film credit should not be a political issue — it’s a mathematical issue. If the film credit is producing more value than it’s costing, then we ought to keep it. If it’s not, we ought to end it.”

Schwarz said the key word is “value.”

“You can’t just take the raw revenue from the state’s perspective into it,” he said. “You need to look at it from the standpoint of how many jobs it’s providing, how much revenue and business activity is happening in local communities, and how many people are able to stop relying on the social safety net.”

Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Snyder has said he would not have supported the film incentives, but has no immediate plans to “pull the rug out from under” film investors who have committed to film projects in Michigan already. The Macomb Daily reports on Snyder spokesman Bill Nowling on Snyder’s position on the film incentives:

“Rick questions whether these kinds of tax cuts are feasible, based on the report from the Senate Fiscal Agency,” he said. “We’re looking at a $1 to $2 billion deficit for next year’s budget. Rick thinks we should look at all tax breaks we give companies.

“But (a phase-out) wouldn’t be right away because Rick recognizes that other companies and people are heavily invested in these incentives.”

Snyder has said supporting the “Pure Michigan” campaign was a “no brainer,” reports the Detroit Free Press.