Michigan has become a must win for Mitt Romney. He was born there (although we haven’t seen his birth certificate) and his family has strong ties to the state. His father George Romney, even held office there when Mittens was a young millionaire. But over the last few weeks, polls have suggested that the state is becoming a headache for Mittens, as Rick Santorum is really running (for lack of a better word) through the state and Romney’s own words in 2008 and a few weeks ago, to let Detroit go bankrupt.
But Mittens is slowly gaining hold once again in the state. Public Policy Polling (PPP) puts it this way: “The Republican race for President in Michigan has tightened considerably over the last week, with what was a 15 point lead for Rick Santorum down to 4. He leads with 37% to 33% for Mitt Romney, 15% for Ron Paul, and 10% for Newt Gingrich.
The tightening over the last week is much more a function of Romney gaining than Santorum falling. Santorum’s favorability spread of 67/23 has seen no change since our last poll, and his share of the vote has dropped only 2 points from 39% to 37%. Romney meanwhile has seen his net favorability improve 10 points from +10 (49/39) to +20 (55/35) and his vote share go from 24% to 33%.”