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Michigan approval ratings: 2014 Obama and 2018 Trump nearly the same

In 2014, Obama's approval rating was at 45 percent in Michigan, and Donald Trump's is at 44 percent.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Leading up to the critical 2018 Michigan gubernatorial election, a look at approval ratings shows President Donald Trump and President Barack Obama had similar numbers at the same juncture in the political cycle.

Thanks to results from Morning Consult, a company constantly measuring President Trump's approval ratings, we have numbers from June 2018. The company found 44 percent of people in Michigan approve of the way Trump is doing the job down from 48 percent when Trump first came into office in early 2017.

President Obama's numbers are remarkably similar in the summer of 2014 leading up to the mid-term election and the Michigan governor's race, which was eventually won by incumbent Republican Gov. Rick Snyder. Obama's approval rating in Michigan was 45 percent at that time, just one point off from where President Trump is now. In 2010 during this time in the political cycle, President Obama had similar numbers in the low 40's.

The strength of Trump's numbers this time around, considering the controversy in his administration over the last 18 months, shows how strong Trump's base is in Michigan, suggesting he'll have a large impact on the race.

Trump's strength with Republican voters should bolster Attorney General Bill Schuette's campaign. He received President Trump's endorsement in the fall of 2017 and has heavily advertised the endorsement during the primary season. Schuette has had a double digit lead in the polls for months and is the front runner at this point in the election.

Assuming he gets by the primary, Schuette will likely draw on President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence heavily during his campaign this fall.

On the Democratic side, the strategy will clearly be to criticize President Trump and attack Schuette and Trump together.

In one of his most recent political advertisements, Democratic challenger Shri Thanedar attacked the President.

"We are going to keep Donald Trump's racism out of Michigan," Thanedar said in the ad.

We have seen glimpses of what's to come after the primary as Democrats Gretchen Whitmer and Abdul El-Sayed have attacked the President in various ways.

Whitmer is leading in the Democratic primary, but Thanedar and El-Sayed have run very solid campaigns.

Polls show hypothetical November races between the campaign's leaders, Whitmer or Thanedar and Schuette, are leaning Democrat by a couple of points. The general election race is considered a toss-up at the moment.

People from both parties have said they believe the election for governor in Michigan will be in the top four most watched gubernatorial races around the country in November.

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