MPPS

MPPS Policy Brief: A majority of Michigan local officials continue to say the state is on the wrong track, reflecting partisan affiliation and growing uncertainty

July 2025

This policy brief presents the opinions of Michigan’s local government leaders regarding the direction in which the state is headed, as well as their evaluations of the job performance of Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Legislature. These findings are based on statewide surveys of local government leaders in the spring 2025 wave of the Michigan Public Policy Survey (MPPS)— conducted between April 7 and June 12, 2025—and tracking comparisons to previous spring waves.

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Key findings

  • Statewide, 51% of local officials believe Michigan is on the wrong track. That dissatisfaction has continued to drop from the series high of 67% in 2021 and more recently 59% in 2023, but pessimism is still higher than pre-COVID levels, when typically around 30-35% of local officials believed the state was on the wrong track.
  • Just under a third (32%) of local officials believe the state is generally going in the right direction, a slight improvement from 30% in 2023 and from the series low of 23% in 2021. Overall, 17% are unsure about the direction the state is headed, a jump from 11% who expressed uncertainty two years ago.
  • There are wide gaps in these assessments across partisan identification. Among self-identified Republican local leaders, just 20% say the state is going in the right direction (but this represents an improvement over the 13% who said the same in 2023). Among officials who identify as Independents, 35% now say that Michigan is going in the right direction (up slightly from 32% in 2023). Meanwhile, 70% of local officials who self-identify as Democrats express optimism about the direction of the state (down significantly from the 85% who said the same in 2023).
  • Local leaders’ assessments of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s performance remain stable. In 2025, less than a third (30%) of local leaders statewide rate Whitmer's performance as "excellent” or “good," essentially unchanged since 2021 and strongly associated with the political party of the respondent.
  • Assessments of the Michigan Legislature remain low but slightly improved. Relatively few local leaders overall believe the Michigan Legislature is doing an outright excellent or good job (18%). Ratings of “fair” improved to 48% in 2025.

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