"Wall Street Willie" Is Losing Ground In Michigan

When the Republican presidential campaign got underway, there were some states where the winner was a foregone conclusion. An example would be the state of Michigan, which was expected to be easily won by Willard Mitt Romney (Wall Street Willie) -- after all, Romney's father was the governor of that state and the younger Romney grew up there. But there are now some creeping doubts as to whether Romney can win in Michigan now.

After Romney's thrashing in South Carolina, things seem to have changed a bit. Romney has lost the feeling among voters that he is the "inevitable" winner of the Republican nomination. The Florida primary is still very volatile and Romney now trails Gingrich in all the national polls. Those things seem to be having an effect in Michigan and that effect is eroding support for Romney and gaining support for Gingrich in that state. And some now believe that the outcome in Michigan could actually be in doubt when it holds its primary on February 28th.

A Detroit Free Press/WXYZ-TV Poll shows that Romney has gone from a 17 point lead in the state poll last week over Gingrich to only a 5 point lead this week. Last week the poll showed Romney with 34% support while Gingrich had only 17% support. This week, Romney's support has dropped to 31% while Gingrich's support has risen to 26%. And that's without any large-scale campaign effort by Gingrich in that state.

Even if Gingrich doesn't win Michigan outright, he could now come out of that state with more delegates than anyone had previously thought possible -- and that would be a big embarrassment for Wall Street Willie, the home-state boy. And that could affect the outcome in later-voting states.

Even better news for Democrats is that it also looks like Romney is also losing general election support in Michigan. Two months ago, Romney led President Obama 46% to 41% in Michigan. That is no longer true. Now President Obama has the lead over Romney 48% to 40%. And the people of Michigan prefer President Obama over Gingrich 51% to 38%. It looks like the dirty Republican primary campaign (along with a slightly improving economic outlook) is having a positive effect for Democrats.