Michigan local leaders trust residents less, but say that local democracy remains strong
This report presents Michigan local government leaders’ trust in their residents and their assessments of the tone of discussion in local politics, as well as their views regarding the overall functioning of democracy in their jurisdictions. 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 survey waves from 2012-2024.
Key findings
- Only 40% of local leaders say they trust their residents nearly always or most of the time, compared with 53% in 2012 and 65% at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
- More than one in five (21%) say they seldom or almost never trust residents to participate responsibly—the highest level since the survey started tracking these sentiments.
- The feeling among officials that discussions with residents on local policy are constructive likewise has dropped, from 70% in 2012 to 59% now.
- After two consecutive years of falling ratings of local democratic health, this year the percentage of Michigan officials statewide who say they have a highly functioning local democracy ticked upward from 79% to 82%, while the percentage who report poor functioning dropped from 7% to 2%.