Michigan Governor 2010

PPP conducted several polls pertaining to the 2010 race for Governor of Michigan over the summer. The numbers at this very early stage are more a function of name recognition than anything else but Dick DeVos did fare the strongest of any candidate, Democrat or Republican, in that polling. He led former Detroit mayor Dennis Archer 44-42 and Lieutenant Governor John Cherry 45-36.

With DeVos now out of the race today, how does the rest of the potential field stack up?

1) Dennis Archer. Archer led all three possible match ups except the one with DeVos, leading Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land 41-38, Attorney General Mike Cox 40-33, and Congresswoman Candice Miller 41-29.

2) Terri Lynn Land. She led John Cherry 40-34 and came the closest to Archer of the other Republican candidates. She's had two successful runs for statewide office and proven to be relatively non-controversial.

3) Mike Cox. Cox also led Cherry in a possible match up. His lead was 35-30. His deficit against Archer was slightly larger than Land's. Like the Secretary of State he's been elected statewide twice, although his margin of victory each time was narrower than hers and he has found himself in the middle of more controversy.

4) Candice Miller. She's been out of statewide office for almost seven years now and it seems that she may have lost a good bit of her former name recognition. She trailed Archer by the greatest margin of the potential GOP field and also had the smallest lead over Cherry (34-30).

5) John Cherry. Cherry is the only one of the potential candidates we tested who has never been elected to statewide office in his own right and as such probably is not as well known to your average Michigan voter at this point. He trailed in every match up we tested, but it's a long way until 2010.

The June poll, which tested Archer and Cherry against Cox and Miller, is here. The July poll, which tested the same pair of Democrats against Land and DeVos, is here.