POLLING CHANGES

The accuracy of political polling has been a hot topic since the 2016 presidential election and remains so to this day. So while most recent polls have incumbent Gov. Gretchen Whitmer still ahead  (albeit by a declining margin) over Republican contender Tudor Dixon, unpublished polls circulating among the GOP chattering class show a much tighter race with three weeks to go before final ballots are cast. An October 13 poll commissioned by the Detroit Free Press and conducted by EPIC-MRA of Lansing had Whitmer 11 points ahead (it was 16 points a few weeks earlier) with a plus or minus a margin of error of four percent and nine percent undecided. One Republican insider says that he has seen two polls, most likely internal in nature, that put Dixon within shooting range for a victory. One poll showed only four points separating the two contenders while the second one had the pair tied. The GOP polling fits with what national pollsters are finding –  a resurgence by the Republican party most recently, much of it tied to the issues of the economy and inflation, or as one involved party member phrased it, a “coming home” by those who had drifted away in the past. Other Republican party honchos dismiss the Dixon polls as urban myths designed to keep the party faithful energized the last couple of weeks before November 8.