Michigan residents’ optimism about the future is at its highest in nearly five years, according to Michigan State University’s latest State of the State Survey.
The number of Michiganians who say they believe they will be better off financially one year from now stands at 54.8 percent. That’s up from 50.1 percent in the previous survey and the highest mark since fall 2004, when it was 60.1 percent. Charles Ballard, director of the quarterly survey and professor of economics, said the optimism is likely due to a slight improvement in the state economy, but also because residents just seem ready to believe after years of tough times.
“It was a tough decade for Michigan,” Ballard said, “and in a sense it’s really important psychologically for people to believe things will get better. And that can be a self-fulfilling prophesy. If you’re convinced that all is lost, it’s hard to get out of bed and do what you need to do.”
The survey also ranked the approval ratings of President Obama and Gov. Jennifer Granholm in Michigan. Obama has a 43.9 percent approval rating, up 7 percentage points from the previous survey. Granholm has a 23.2 percent approval rating, up 2.4 percentage points.
Ballard predicted that voters will pick a new governor Nov. 2 amid a backlash against the “party in power” – the Democrats – even though the recession cannot be pinned to any one party.
“The economy has actually begun to improve and you would think that would be good for the party in power, but it’s still not where people would like it to be,” Ballard said. “The psychology of this is sometimes hard to figure. We give politicians way too much credit when things are good and way too much blame when things are bad.”
