Romney Leads in Mich. a Month Before Mackinac

By Steven Shepard  //  August 23, 2011 | 9:47 a.m.
Updated: August 23, 2011 | 1:16 p.m.

Mitt Romney is poised to repeat his winning performance in 2008 in the Michigan Republican presidential primary, according to a new poll of likely primary voters in the state Romney's father, George, once governed.

Romney leads Texas Gov. Rick Perry, 32 to 17 percent. The EPIC-MRA poll surveyed a relatively small sample size, but Perry's strong second-place showing in a state outside his natural base across the South is notable.

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., was third at 12 percent, while former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin all tied for fourth at 5 percent. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Mich., earned just one percent of the vote in his home state; of all the candidates tested on his home turf, McCotter had the lowest name-identification, as nearly half of Republican voters said they didn't recognize his name.

Despite Romney's Michigan connections, support for the former Massachusetts governor remains relatively soft. Overall, 70 percent of likely Republican primary voters have a favorable impression of Romney, higher than the candidates he leads, like Perry (48 percent) and Bachmann (58 percent). But only 22 percent of Republican voters have a "very favorable" opinion of Romney, equal to the percentage that view Bachmann "very favorably" and narrowly more than have a "very favorable" impression of Perry (17 percent). Romney, Perry, Gingrich and McCotter will appear at the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference next month, where The Hotline will conduct a straw poll of Midwestern GOP activists. The EPIC-MRA poll was conducted Aug. 13-16 among 210 likely GOP primary voters. The margin of error is +/- 6.7 percent.

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