Following last week’s analysis of Ohio voters, we took a look at neighboring state Michigan. While many of the top issues are similar, there is a higher concentration of agreement on the platform positions that matter most when electing candidates.
The voting patterns are similar to those in Ohio, with 36% reporting they vote Democratic, 28% Republican, and 25% Swing (those who are willing to cross party lines at least some of the time).
We also looked at how these voters choose their candidates based on their platform positions; there are stark differences in the top issues for Democratic and Republican voters. Here we find that job creation leads the list with Democratic voters, with 56% ranking it as a top three platform issue. They also look at a candidate’s stance on healthcare (51%) and education policy (43%). Republicans are looking at government spending (63%), balanced budget (52%), and job creation (45%). Job creation is also important for swing voters with 48% agreeing it’s a top issue, followed by government spending (46%), and healthcare (45%).
Democratic and Republican voters remain deeply divided on social issues. For example, Democratic voters are five times more likely to be involved with gender/race equality policies and four times more likely to be involved in gay/lesbian rights than their Republican counterparts. Conversely, Republican voters are almost four times more likely than Democratic voters to be concerned with traditional marriage policies. They’re equally far apart on pro-life/pro-choice policies.
Furthering the need to understand voters at the congressional district level, voters within MI-5 report increased left-leaning voting patterns, with 42% saying they vote Democratic. Swing voting patterns are also more prevalent (28%). Unlike voters on the state level where job creation is consistent among all voters, it falls out of the top three for Republican voters. Healthcare takes its place with 44% saying it is a top issue. For Democratic voters, social issues replace education policy in the top three.
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