Michigan Public Policy Survey

News

Small Michigan communities feel early voting strain

Oct 11, 2026

Most Michigan city and township officials report positive or neutral impacts from recent state election administration reforms, but many cite the costs and staffing demands associated with nine days of early in-person voting as a concern, according t...

Small Michigan communities feel early voting strain

CLOSUP Updates

New MPPS Policy Brief: Most Michigan local officials report positive or neutral impacts from recent election reforms, but many express concerns around costs of early voting

Oct 7, 2026

A new MPPS policy brief presents Michigan city and township officials' views on the impacts of recent election administration reforms enacted through state constitutional amendments passed in 2018 and 2022, such as automatic voter registration, regis...

In the Media

Horner: Local governance a widespread problem among jurisdictions across the state

Oct 2, 2026 Bridge Michigan

Over 3/4 of jurisdictions said that they have difficulty finding enough residents willing to run for local office. that candidacies when they do find people are often uncontested. And beyond that, they can't find residents that are willing to serve o...

Horner: Local governance a widespread problem among jurisdictions across the state

Publication

Majority of Michigan’s local government leaders support regulation of data centers, per U-M survey

Sep 24, 2026

Solid majorities of Michigan's local officials say their residents would strongly oppose data center development in or near their communities, and believe governmental regulation of such centers should be a very high priority. Those are among the key...

Majority of Michigan’s local government leaders support regulation of data centers, per U-M survey

CLOSUP Updates

New MPPS Report: Michigan local government leaders’ views on large-scale data center development

Sep 22, 2026

A new MPPS report presents the opinions of Michigan's local government leaders on issues related to large-scale data center development in Michigan, including perceived impacts, local support for the development of data centers in or near the communi...

News

Leiser promotes new MPPS report: Michigan local governments highly confident in election integrity

Aug 17, 2026

In a commentary for The Conversation, Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy director Stephanie Leiser promotes the latest findings of the Michigan Public Policy Survey,(MPPS) which show that "local officials across Michigan are highly confident i...

CLOSUP Updates

New MPPS Report: Michigan local governments highly confident in election integrity, wary of disinformation

Aug 12, 2026

This report presents the opinions of Michigan's township and city leaders on issues related to election administration in their jurisdictions, including confidence in overall accurate election administration and expected problems their jurisdictions ...

News

Michigan's local leaders remain confident in election security, accuracy despite claims of vulnerabilities

Jul 21, 2026

Local officials across Michigan have maintained high confidence in election security and accuracy over the past several years. A soon-to-be released survey from the University of Michigan shows city and township officials—including those who conduct ...

Michigan's local leaders remain confident in election security, accuracy despite claims of vulnerabilities

CLOSUP Updates

New MPPS Policy Brief: Local officials report declining outlook for state, plummeting approval of the Legislature

Jul 7, 2026

A new 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.

News

Majority of Michigan's local leaders see state moving in wrong direction, U-M survey finds

Jul 7, 2026

A majority of local government officials in Michigan say the state is on the wrong track, according to a new University of Michigan survey that reverses a three-year trend in improving attitudes about the state's overall direction. To be sure, the fi...

Majority of Michigan's local leaders see state moving in wrong direction, U-M survey finds

Publication

Michigan's local governments make progress on budgeting, but many lag on long-term planning

May 6, 2026

In a time of economic volatility, relatively few local governments in Michigan report they are doing long-term financial planning—though many say they'd like to be doing more. The findings come in the latest installment of the Michigan Public Policy ...

Michigan's local governments make progress on budgeting, but many lag on long-term planning

CLOSUP Updates

New MPPS Report: Michigan local governments making progress on best practices in budgeting

May 6, 2026

A new MPPS report presents assessments by Michigan's local government leaders of local budgeting processes, including the prevalence of multi-year budgeting, capital improvement plans (CIPs), and long-term financial planning, as well as views on the ...

State & Hill

25 years of CLOSUP

Apr 11, 2026

When the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission faced a tidal wave of public input—more than 30,000 comments—the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) and Ford School students stepped in. Their analysis helped the commiss...

News

Government of, by and for people? Sure, but it needs more people to serve, U-M survey finds

Apr 8, 2026

Abraham Lincoln famously spoke of a government of, by and for the people. Yet it's getting harder to find people to serve in government, according to a survey of local leaders across Michigan. The findings come in the latest installment of the Michig...

Government of, by and for people? Sure, but it needs more people to serve, U-M survey finds

In the Media

Leiser discusses CLOSUP at 25 and the Michigan Public Policy Survey to Washtenaw County

Apr 7, 2026 WEMU

Director of the Center for Local, State and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) Stephanie Leiser discusses the Michigan Public Policy Survey that has implications for Michigan's local government leaders from well over a thousand counties, cities, villages and town...

Stephanie Leiser: Helping local goverments in Michigan become healthier and more resilient

CLOSUP Updates

New MPPS Policy Brief: Challenges to Michigan local government budgeting

Feb 4, 2026

A new MPPS policy brief presents the opinions of Michigan's local government leaders on a set of eight specific challenges that they might be facing in their jurisdiction's budgeting process, including technical or procedural financial management cha...

News

Concerns about elected officials’ budgeting expertise emerges from survey of Michigan community leaders

Feb 4, 2026

A majority of Michigan city and village officials say they are concerned about the lack of budgeting expertise among the elected officials in their communities as they deal with rising economic and political uncertainty and challenging state and fede...

Concerns about elected officials’ budgeting expertise emerges from survey of Michigan community leaders

In the Media

Local democracy is holding strong, but rural communities are falling behind - Leiser

Dec 20, 2025 The Conversation

According to our recent survey of officials in Michigan communities, local democracy is humming along and city hall is taking care of business. The federal government was shut down in October and November 2025, but cities and towns around the United ...

Local democracy is holding strong, but rural communities are falling behind - Leiser

Publication

Fiscal stress rising among Michigan communities, particularly in small, rural towns, U-M survey finds

Dec 17, 2025

Fewer than half of Michigan's smaller and more rural communities report good fiscal health, reflecting a trend of rising financial stress among local governments across the state and growing concerns about having enough money to keep up with increase...

Fiscal stress rising among Michigan communities, particularly in small, rural towns, U-M survey finds

CLOSUP Updates

New MPPS Report: Smaller and more rural Michigan local governments are struggling with increased fiscal stress

Dec 17, 2025

A new MPPS report presents Michigan local government leaders' assessments of their jurisdictions' fiscal conditions and the actions they plan to take in the coming year, given their financial situations.

Policy Matters

To shore up American democracy, look to city hall

Nov 20, 2025

Recent years have seen increasing concerns over the state of democracy in the US, with a majority of Americans believing it to be under threat. Using data from an annual survey, Stephanie Leiser, Debra Horner, and Natalie Fitzpatrick find that local ...

News

Trust falls among Michigan’s local officials that residents can be responsible partners in policymaking

Nov 19, 2025

The trust Michigan's local leaders have that the residents they serve can responsibly participate in the policymaking process has eroded to alarmingly low levels. Further, the officials' assessments of the tone of civil discourse among residents has ...

CLOSUP Updates

New MPPS Report: Michigan local leaders trust residents less, but say that local democracy remains strong

Nov 19, 2025

A new MPPS 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. Th...

Publication

Local officials in Michigan report plummeting engagement with residents despite myriad methods

Oct 28, 2025

From voicemail to email, social media to snail mail—even bulletin boards in public places—there’s no lack of newfangled and old-school ways for local leaders to reach residents in their communities. Still, officials across Michigan report alarming de...

Local officials in Michigan report plummeting engagement with residents despite myriad methods

CLOSUP Updates

New MPPS Report: Michigan local leaders report alarming declines in resident engagement

Oct 28, 2025

A new MPPS 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 leve...

Publication

Local governments in Michigan concerned about problems spurred by state, federal funding cuts

Aug 13, 2025

Many of Michigan’s local government officials—especially at the city and county level—believe a temporary or permanent loss of public funding will cause financial problems, though fewer are preparing for such cuts. The findings come from the latest i...

Local governments in Michigan concerned about problems spurred by state, federal funding cuts

CLOSUP Updates

New MPPS Policy Brief: Many Michigan communities concerned about the loss of federal and state funding, but uncertain how to prepare

Aug 12, 2025

A new MPPS policy brief presents the assessments of local government leaders from around the state regarding whether the winding down of funds from sources such as ARPA, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), or...

CLOSUP Updates

New 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

Jul 22, 2025

A new MPPS 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. ...

Publication

Michigan's local leaders express lingering pessimism, entrenched partisanship about state's direction

Jul 22, 2025

Despite improvement since the COVID-19 pandemic, more than half of Michigan local officials say the state is on the wrong track. These findings are from the latest installment of the Michigan Public Policy Survey conducted by the University of Michig...

Michigan's local leaders express lingering pessimism, entrenched partisanship about state's direction

Publication

Michigan's local leaders support database tracking police misconduct, far fewer favor public access to it

Jul 8, 2025

Michigan's local leaders strongly support a law enforcement database for keeping track of officer misconduct, though far fewer are in favor of that database being accessible to the public. That's a key finding from the latest installment of the Michi...