EAST LANSING — The approval ratings for Governor Rick Snyder have continued to slide among Michigan residents according survey results released from Michigan State University.

Rick Snyder

Michigan State University’s “State of the State” poll showed only about one in five residents give the governor an “excellent” or “good” rating. according to Michigan Radio. Snyder’s approval rating was about double that when he took office.

According to mlive.com, The Fall 2011 State of the State survey conducted by the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at Michigan State University found that just19.3 percent of Michigan residents surveyed rated the governor’s performance as excellent or good, continuing a decline in popularity from 44.5 percent just after his election to 31.5 percent in the Spring, 2011 survey.

Charles Ballard, director of the survey, said Snyder’s support among his Republican base is eroding.

“The percentage of the Republicans who gave either an “excellent” or “good”  to Governor Snyder was cut in half.  From the mid-60s to the low 30s…that’s a really big drop,” said Ballard. 

Ballard said part of the reason for the decline may be tied to an ongoing feud over building a new international bridge in Detroit. 

“Many of those ads specifically said not very nice things about Governor Snyder himself,” explained Ballard to Michigan Radio. “That’s very unusual because usually you don’t expect “attack ads” until you are fully within a reelection campaign.”

The MSU survey also shows that Michiganders are not pleased with the president or Congress.

President Obama’s positive reviews dropped as well, with “excellent” or “good” grades falling from 44.5 percent this past spring to 40.5 percent in the latest phone interviews with 807 Michigan residents from Sept. 15 to Nov. 8.

The survey reportedly carried a margin of error of 3.45 percent. 

The U.S. Congress also suffered from low marks among survey respondents. “Congress received very poor ratings,” Ballard said. Less than 1 percent of the survey’s respondents awarded Congress an “excellent” or “good” mark. A striking 57.4 percent gave Congress “poor” grades.