LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Gov. Jennifer Granholm has pulled slightly ahead of Republican challenger Dick DeVos with less than a month to go before the election, according to a poll published Sunday. Forty-nine percent of likely voters polled said they would choose Granholm if the election were held today, while 41 percent chose DeVos, according to the poll published in the Detroit Free Press. Ten percent were listed as "other/not sure."
The telephone survey of 643 likely voters was conducted Oct. 8 through Wednesday by Des Moines, Iowa-based Selzer & Co. for the newspaper and Detroit television station WDIV. It had a sampling error margin of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Michigan is a closely watched state as Democrats try to hold and win governorships and try to wrest control of Congress in the Nov. 7 election.
Following a poll taken in August, the same polling company said the governor's race was about even. That poll said that 46 percent of 803 likely voters backed Granholm, while 44 percent backed DeVos, within the sampling error margin of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. Ten percent were unsure or gave another response.
Another poll released Friday showed Granholm nine points ahead of DeVos. In the telephone survey of 608 likely voters conducted by Lansing-based EPIC-MRA, 51 percent said they'd choose Granholm and 42 percent chose DeVos.
That poll was conducted Tuesday through Thursday for The Detroit News and TV stations WXYZ in Southfield, WOOD in Grand Rapids, WILX in Lansing and WJRT in Flint. It had a sampling error margin of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
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On the Net:
DeVos campaign: http://www.devosforgovernor.com
Granholm campaign: http://www.granholmforgov.com
