Mike Cox Leads Governor's Race

A new poll shows that Attorney General Mike Cox leads a tight race for Michigan governor.

------------------

Cox and Hoekstra lead in GOP race for governor, poll shows

Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox and U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra are leading the Republican pack for the party’s gubernatorial nomination, according to a poll released today.

The statewide poll of 600 likely Michigan voters showed that 27% would support Cox in the GOP primary next August, while 23% backed Hoekstra and 15% would vote for Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard.

Ann Arbor businessman Rick Snyder and state Sen. Tom George of Kalamazoo would get 2% each.

The results were released by the political newsletter Inside Michigan Politics and Marketing Resource Group as about 1,800 Republicans prepare to journey to Mackinac Island for a conference this weekend that marks the unofficial start of the 2010 election season.

On the Democratic side, Lt. Gov. John Cherry holds a commanding lead over other announced candidates, state Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith of Salem Township and former state Rep. John Freeman. Cherry would get 40% of the vote among likely voters in a Democratic primary election, while Freeman would get 9% and Smith would pick up 8%.

The pollsters also asked whether the voters would approve a tax increase over a state government shutdown; 51% said shut the place down, and 45% said to avoid a shutdown by raising taxes.

The poll was conducted from Sept. 12-20 and has a margin of error of 4.1 percentage points.