Michigan local leaders report alarming declines in resident engagement
This report presents the views of Michigan’s local government leaders regarding resident engagement with their local governments, including assessments of the opportunities their local governments provide for engagement, residents’ overall levels of engagement, and challenges to their engagement efforts. These findings are based on statewide surveys of local government leaders in the spring 2025 wave of the Michigan Public Policy Survey (MPPS) with comparisons to 2012 and 2016 survey waves.
Key findings
- Local officials’ satisfaction with their residents’ overall engagement with their local governments has plummeted, from 58% in 2012 to 38% in 2025.
- Even though local governments have increased their outreach and engagement activities, just 46% of local governments statewide say their residents are somewhat or very engaged, a drop from 65% who said the same in 2012.
- Two-thirds (65%) of jurisdictions statewide say they are having problems with their engagement efforts attracting the same people over and over, and a majority of cities (52%) say they have problems with a small vocal minority of residents negatively affecting overall engagement.
- Meanwhile, 43% of cities and 45% of counties say state or national partisan politics is a problem for resident engagement.
- Local leaders point to social media and other online tools as ways they have successfully increased resident engagement, along with more traditional methods such as community meetings and events, and more innovative practices such as resident academies.