In an early snapshot of how Detroit's mayor and his re-election challenger stand, Mike Duggan has a lead of 46 percent to 21 percent over state Sen. Coleman Young II.
Those support shares comes comes from a telephone survey of 310 likely voters by Denno Research of East Lansing for the Michigan Information and Research Service, a newsletter covering state government and politics. It's the 2017 campaign's first public poll.
Young, 34-year-old son and namesake of a legendary Detroit mayor (1973-93), is Duggan's only announced opponent in the Nov. 7 election. If others file candidacy statements with the city clerk by April 25, an Aug. 8 primary will determine the top two finishers for the fall runoff.
Duggan formally announced his campaign Feb. 4 at an east-side rally, followed by Young on WHPR Radio two weeks later.
In the new poll, taken March 7-9, 29 percent of respondents were undecided and 4 percent named a different person. The survey's error margin is 6 percentage points. One-fourth of the respondents were reached on their cell phones.
State Sen. Coleman A. Young II (WXYZ photo)
A statement from the polling firm says:
The survey has Duggan up 31 percentage points over Young among voters 65 and older, and 28 percentage points over Young among voters aged 50-64.
Duggan has a 27-percentage point lead over Young among males. . . .
While Duggan is leading in the polls, he didn’t crest 50 percent -- which is typically viewed as a safe zone for incumbents.
"While Coleman Young might have a million-dollar name, this poll shows that he will need to raise over a $1 million to get Detroiters to vote for him for mayor,” company president Dennis Denno says in the release.
Seventy-six percent of those polled say it's not important that Detroit's mayor be African-American. And even among those who see a black mayor as important, 27 percent still back Duggan.
-- Alan Stamm
Earlier coverage;
