Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's lead grows as fall campaign begins, new poll finds

Lansing — Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's lead over Republican Tudor Dixon has expanded to 13 percentage points with two months remaining before Election Day, according to a new poll from The Detroit News and WDIV-TV (Channel 4).

The statewide survey of 600 likely voters in the battleground state found that 48% supported Whitmer, a former state lawmaker from East Lansing, while 35% backed Dixon, a political commentator and first-time candidate from Norton Shores. About 4% of likely voters said they would vote for a third-party candidate and 13% said they were undecided.

The Lansing-based Glengariff Group conducted the poll, contacting voters from Aug. 29 through Sept. 1, a period that ended 28 days before absentee ballots become widely available and the week after Republicans held a state nominating convention to finalize their ticket.

The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points with 38% of participants identifying as Democrats, 37% identifying as Republicans and 24% identifying as independent voters or not answering.

In a similar July 5-8 poll commissioned by The News and WDIV — before Dixon became the Republican nominee in the Aug. 2 primary election — Whitmer was leading Dixon by 11 percentage points.

Since then, the Democratic incumbent has maintained a significant fundraising advantage and the Democratic Governors Association has poured millions of dollars into the state to fund TV advertisements criticizing Dixon's stance on abortion.

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which had protected access to abortion nationally for nearly 50 years.

Since then, Whitmer has vowed to "fight like hell" to support abortion rights, while Dixon spoke out in opposition to abortion, including in situations involving rape and incest.

A full analysis of where the race for governor stands with two months remaining is available here. 

cmauger@detroitnews.com