WHO’S UP?

With all the chatter about the 2022 gubernatorial election, it’s important to remember that the August primaries are still six months away – and the November general election is in a whopping nine months, which is like centuries in politics. The latest poll conducted by The Detroit News and WDIV-Channel 4 by Richard Czuba and Glegariff Group shows Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) currently back on an upswing after a difficult 2021 with fallout of her pandemic handling, with her approval ratings rising to 56 percent. “That’s a fairly solid position to be in, and she’s leading all her Republican challengers,” said Oakland University political science professor David Dulio, although he noted she’s slightly below 50 percent – the golden marker – at 49 percent v 39 percent against presumed Republican leader former Detroit Police Chief James Craig, and leads 50 percent to 33 percent, with 17 percent undecided, against both Republican candidates Garrett Soldano, a chiropractor and activist from Mattawan, and Bloomfield Township businessman and former auto dealer Kevin Rinke. Dulio said Whitmer still will have concerns because “less than 40 percent of likely voters say they will re-elect her, but on the Republican side they all have major work to get their name recognition throughout the state. Fifty-five percent say they’ve never heard of Craig, 80 percent never heard of Rinke, and 85 never heard of Tudor Dixon, and they need to beef that up… There’s an uncertainty about handicapping the race until the filing deadline (in late April). It will take the whole summer to shake out.”