LANSING -- Nearly half of Michigan's residents say they're worse off now than they were a year ago, and more than 60 percent believe their economic situation will stay the same or get worse.
That's according to quarterly State of the State survey conducted by the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at Michigan State University.
"It's not a jolly holiday atmosphere," said Charles Ballard, an MSU economics professor and director of the survey.
Asked if they believed they were better off now than a year ago, 20.1 percent said yes, down from 28.6 percent in the Spring 2011 survey and 30 percent in the Winter 2011 survey.
While the number of respondents who said they were worse off was down slightly from the previous survey, the current survey showed that optimism among Michiganders is plummeting.
In the winter 2011 survey, 60 percent of Michiganders said they believed they'd be better off one year from now. Now, only 37.9 percent share that faith, while the number of people expecting things to get worse rose from 23 percent to 36.2 percent in the same period of time.
Consumer confidence wasn't the only area taking a hit in the survey.
Gov. Rick Snyder's favorable rating plummeted again, and has fallen consistently since taking office.
Only 19.3 percent of Michigan residents rated Snyder's job performance as "excellent" or "good," down from 31.5 percent in the spring survey and 44.5 percent when he came into office.
"It is remarkable how far Gov. Snyder's numbers continue to fall," Ballard said. "Snyder is now down in Gov. Jennifer Granholm's territory."
Granholm started her term with a 58 percent favorable rating. That number was down around 20 percent when she left office.
Snyder's falling numbers are due in large part to a growing lack of support from Republicans, Ballard said. Nearly 66 percent of Republicans rated Snyder's job performance favorably in the spring survey.
Now, support from the GOP is down to 32.3 percent.
Michigan residents followed the national trends in disapproving of the job of the U.S. Congress is doing, with 57.4 percent issuing a grade of "poor."
Less than 1 percent of survey respondents gave Congress an "excellent" or "good" mark, a harsher assessment than what's been reported in national surveys, Ballard said.
Those polls typically find about 9 to 14 percent of the county approving of Congress' job.
President Barack Obama's favorable ratings also fell, from 44.5 percent in the spring survey to 40.5 percent currently.
Researchers conducted phone interviews with 807 Michigan residents from Sept. 15 to Nov. 8. The Survey carries a margin of error of 3.45 percent.
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