Another race for the “not interesting” pile: Michigan Governor

Michigan: home of the last of the classical private sector unions. The UAW does not hide its partisan bias, and that influence has kept the whole state leaning toward the Democrats for a while now. Long ago a solidly Republican state, the trend has been toward the Democrats, and the state hasn’t supported the Republican Presidential ticket since 1988, nor a Republican Senator since 1994.

But Democrat Virg Bernero seems to have no chance to be elected Governor, as Republican Rick Snyder is trouncing him in every poll, including this Glengariff Group poll for the Detroit News and WDIV.

The poll has Bernero down 56-36 (MoE 4), with the fundamentals to back it up. Bernero’s favorables are weak at best, 23/28/49, but Snyder’s in great shape at 47/12/41. It surprises me that so many in Michigan either haven’t heard of or have no opinion of the candidates for governor, but I can only assume that will change now that it’s September.

Still, though, Bernero would have to make a huge swing in the electorate in order to come back from this deficit. His best showing in the polls was 49-37, per Rasmussen in August. He’s never cracked 40 ever, and he’s fallen under 30 repeatedly. This race just isn’t seriously competitive.