A poll released earlier this week conducted by Denno Research and commissioned by the Michigan Information & Research Service shows that while incumbent Detroit mayor Mike Duggan has a strong 25 point lead over his closest challenger, Coleman Young II, he hasn’t put an early lock on the race.
The results of the phone survey of 310 likely voters gave Duggan a 46 to 21 percent lead, but Duggan did not poll over the 50 percent required for the pollster to say he was in a “safe zone for incumbents.”
26 percent of Detroiters are undecided and four percent offered the name of a different candidate. The margin of error for this poll is 6 percentage points.
Additionally, 76 percent of voters said it was not important to them that an African-American be the mayor of Detroit. Young is black and Duggan is white.
Of note, when it comes to the 24 percent of voters who said having an African American as mayor was important, 44 percent said they were supporting Young while 27 percent were still voting for Duggan.
“While Coleman Young might have a million-dollar name, this poll shows that he will need to raise over a $1 million to get Detroiters to vote for him for mayor,” pollster Dennis Denno said on their website. “Many say that Detroit is on the comeback, but Detroit voters might not be ready to give all the credit to Mayor Duggan either.”
The primary election in the city of Detroit is August 8. The field will be narrowed to two based on the results of that primary for the general election on November 7, 2017.
Notes down the ballot:
The City Clerk Janice Winfrey could be vulnerable, polling at 34% with three potential three challengers and “other” receiving a combined 21 percent and “unsure” received the plurality of responses at 45 percent, per Denno Research. More here.