Lansing — President Barack Obama is leading Republican Mitt Romney in Michigan by roughly 9 percentage points, according to a quarterly Michigan State University study released Friday. The study also found Gov. Rick Snyder's popularity has continued to grow and consumer confidence is at its highest level since 2005, though it's changed little in the past year.
Snyder's approval ratings increased from 19.3 percent last fall to 33 percent in the current survey.
MSU economist Charles Ballard, who conducted the survey, called Snyder's jump in the ratings "a very substantial improvement."
The survey found 54 percent of Michiganians believe their financial situation is excellent or good — the highest percentage since 2005.
"The Michigan economy has added 150,000 jobs since the job market bottomed out at the end of 2009," Ballard noted in a press release. "The improvement in the economy is reflected in the brighter mood in our last survey."
Obama led Romney 38.9 percent to 29.8 percent in the poll. Thirty percent were undecided.
"My sense is there are fewer undecided voters now," Ballard said Friday morning at the state Capitol, where he unveiled the survey.
The 1,015-sample live operator telephone study was conducted June 12 through Aug. 13. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.08 percentage points.
Obama's lead was fueled by support among women, who favored Obama over Romney 44.6 percent to 34.2 percent.
A Detroit News/WDIV Local 4 survey conducted Saturday through Monday showed the president leading by 14.2 percentage points. Women also supported Obama more than Romney in The News poll, 54.7 percent to 29.7 percent.
