Poll Trends Toward Democrats, Gubernatorial Race Again a Toss Up

Gov. Rick Snyder, left, and challenger Mark Schauer, a former state legislator and congressman, are in a statistical dead heat in Michigan’s gubernatorial race. (Patch file photo)

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Michigan’s gubernatorial race is in a statistical dead heat, and U.S. Rep. Gary Peters has a 9-point lead in the race for Michigan’s open Senate set, a new USA Today/Suffolk University poll shows.

Both races are trending Democratic, with gubernatorial challenger Mark Schauer holding a 2-point advantage over Republican Gov. Rick Snyder, 45 percent to 43 percent.

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• If the November election were today, for whom would you vote in the gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races?

The poll of 500 likely voters was released Thursday and matches the results of an EPIC-MRA poll released last month, the Detroit Free Press reports. Other polls conducted this summer show the race is a toss-up, according to Real Clear Politics.

Respondents in the USA Today/Suffolk poll favored Peters over his Republican opponent, former secretary of state Terri Lynn Land, 46 percent to 37 percent. Peters’ lead was narrower in the EPIC-MRA poll, but he still led, 45 percent to 39 percent.

The new poll also showed that just over half of Michiganders – 51 percent – think the state’s economy is improving.