Whitmer lead over Dixon shrinks in new survey of Michigan governor’s race

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s (D) lead over Republican Tudor Dixon in the state’s gubernatorial race has narrowed in a new poll.

The Cygnal poll, which was commissioned by The White Law Firm and the Michigan Association of Broadcasters, found Whitmer leading Dixon by 5 points, 49 to 44 percent.

Independents are evenly split between the candidates, with 43 percent supporting each.

Most polls have shown Whitmer with a larger lead, some by double digits, but a CBS News-YouGov poll from earlier this month found her lead to only be at 6 points.

FiveThirtyEight’s polling average has Whitmer leading Dixon by about 9 points.

Whitmer also has a slight advantage over Dixon in favorability rating, according to the new survey. The incumbent was viewed favorably by 50.1 of all respondents and unfavorably by 47.6 percent, while Dixon is viewed favorably by 40.3 percent and unfavorably 45.8 percent.

Whitmer’s positive net favorability rating comes from strong support among women, with majorities of all age groups of women having a favorable view of her. Meanwhile, almost half of independent voters have an unfavorable view of Dixon, and less than 40 percent have a favorable view.

Democrats polled were also slightly more solidly behind Whitmer, with 96 precent saying they support the incumbent governor. Dixon had support from 85 percent of Republicans, while 7 percent said they would support Whitmer and 4 percent said they would support a third-party candidate.

The Cygnal poll released Tuesday found almost 20 percent of Michigan voters have already cast their ballots through early voting, and more than a third of voters aged 65 and older have already voted.

The poll found a generic Republican leads a generic Democrat in the state by 3 points.

The poll was conducted from Oct. 12 to 14 among 640 likely voters. The margin of error was 3.86 percentage points.

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