Americans for Prosperity-Michigan

Americans for Prosperity Poll Finds Intense Opposition to Detroit-Canada Bridge, Strong Support for Right to Work

7 of 10 voters support Right to Work; Nearly half of voters oppose Detroit bridge

LANSING, Mich. – Key findings of a new poll released by Americans for Prosperity-Michigan show that nearly half (49 percent) of Michigan voters oppose a new Detroit-Canada bridge, and seven out of 10 voters support giving workers the right not to be forced to join a union. The AFP-Michigan poll covers a total of six key taxpayer issues, including government checkbook transparency, a gas tax increase, and limiting property taxes to a fixed percent of a home’s value. The full poll results may be found online at www.MichiganAFP.com.

• Polling Questions and Data
• Full Data Analysis

“Americans for Prosperity wanted to take the pulse of Michigan voters on some of the core issues we’re focusing our efforts on during the remainder of the legislative session this year,” said Scott Hagerstrom, state director of Americans for Prosperity-Michigan. “When asked plainly, voters do choose less government, lower taxes and greater transparency.”

The phone survey of 600 likely Michigan voters was conducted by the polling company, inc./WomanTrend with a margin of error of +/- 4.0 percent. Among its findings:

•    Detroit-Windsor Bridge – Nearly one-half of respondents opposed the bridge, with 36 percent strongly opposed. In fact, voters were more than twice as likely to “strongly oppose” the bridge than they were to “strongly support” the bridge (36 percent to 16 percent). The total number of voters who supported the bridge was lower than those most fervently against it.
•    Right to Work – 71 percent of respondents supported giving Michigan workers, including teachers, the right not to be forced to join a union. No less than 54 percent of all three political parties and ideologies rejected the idea of compulsory unionization.
•    Gas Taxes – A mere 13 percent of respondents supported an increase in the gas tax in Michigan, while 80 percent opposed a gas tax hike.
•    Government Transparency – Lawmakers loath to take up controversial issues should embrace government transparency. A whopping 83 percent supported government checkbook transparency.
•    Property Taxes – A majority of Michigan voters (62 percent) favored fixing property taxes in correlation with home value, with 39 percent strongly in favor of such a measure.

“Our findings indicate that lawmakers should start focusing their energy on Right to Work, government transparency and a property tax limitation,” concluded Hagerstrom. “An expensive and unnecessary Detroit-Canada government bridge is a distraction from the issues that will bring genuine prosperity to our state.”

Americans for Prosperity-Michigan is a statewide organization of 65,000 activists committed to strengthening our constitutional government, establishing fiscal restraint, and giving taxpayers greater control over government. We are dedicated to recruiting, training, educating and motivating grassroots activists to be effective in their own communities.