Fine-tuning is attempt to connect with voters who do not feel a part of Michigan’s improving economy
By David Eggert
Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Rick Snyder has been fond of calling Michigan the “comeback state” for at least 2 ½ years.
So he naturally made it a part of his re-election campaign, airing an early TV ad that declared the state was back on a solid foundation. Then his Super Bowl commercial called him the “comeback kid.”
But as the Republican governor’s campaign ramps up in the final two months of the race, he is tweaking his message. Now Michigan is on the “road to recovery.”
The fine-tuning reflected in new ads is an attempt to align with voters who, while more positive about the state’s direction, remain cautious. Snyder can point to a number of encouraging trends — gains in employment, personal income, population, home values and the state’s credit rating.
But it may have been too soon to bank on a comeback theme that Snyder himself has repeatedly tempered by warning that more work must be done.
“People believe the economy is improving, but they really don’t feel they have been included in it yet,” said Bernie Porn of EPIC-MRA, a Lansing polling firm.
Democratic challenger Mark Schauer aired his first and, to date, only ad last month that said Snyder’s “economy might work for the wealthy, but it’s not working for the rest of Michigan.” He also has continually noted that the state’s jobless rate is still high, tied for third-worst in the country in July despite dropping in Snyder’s first term.
Nearly half of likely voters surveyed recently by EPIC-MRA said Michigan was on the right track, a big upturn from the depths of the recession when more than seven in 10 voters consistently said the state was on the wrong track. More than six in 10 said the state’s economy had bottomed out and was starting to improve.
Yet in May, when the pollster asked respondents about the economy’s effect on them personally, more than a third said they were worse off.
“The 10-year recession was so long and deep that people really have to see it before they believe it,” said Republican political strategist Tom Shields of Marketing Resource Group in Lansing, which for nearly 30 years has tracked trends in voter attitudes. “Our last poll showed that for only the second time in the last 10 years a plurality of voters — 47 percent to 40 percent — believed the state was on the right track. But there are a lot of them who aren’t convinced we are there yet.”
Asked Wednesday if it was too soon to talk about a comeback, Snyder said the recovery and comeback themes are both accurate.
“They’re sort of synonyms with one another... You can come back and you’re on the road to recovery, you’re making a positive direction. The point is (that) I have never said we should be complacent or content with where we’re at. Let’s go faster. I view November as a good opportunity for people to speak up to say, ‘We are coming back, we are recovering. Let’s accelerate that by reaffirming all the great things we’ve gotten done over the last four years.’”
Snyder plans to run at least $6 million in TV ads this month and next, which supporters hope will separate him from the lesser-funded Schauer in what is a tight race. A 60-second ad launched Sept. 2 told viewers that while they might not feel the recovery yet, they would “soon.”
Snyder campaign spokeswoman Emily Benavides said she would not characterize the adjusted ad message as a shift. She still emails campaign updates with the subject line “Call it a Comeback.” And after signing a law on Friday to limit the effect of a Michigan Supreme Court ruling so the state will not have to potentially refund $1.1 billion in taxes to out-of-state companies, Snyder issued a statement saying it would help “continue our comeback.”
Porn said Schauer’s ad strategy, bolstered by the Democratic Governors Association — which has spent more here than in any other state this year — dovetails with what Democrats are hearing from Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg, who has urged them to spend more time on an “in your shoes” economic message. Schauer and Democrats are criticizing Snyder’s push to eliminate or phase out tax exemptions on retirement income, for example.
In his newest 30-second ad released Wednesday, Snyder counters that the recovery will help “all Michiganders” and last for generations. The governor recently told reporters that by 2038, the state will have paid off retiree pension and medical liabilities due to changes under his watch. The Medicaid expansion he pushed to provide health insurance to more low-income adults is going “extremely well,” he added.
