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Poll: No Post Debate Bounce For Bernero

A new poll released early Friday morning, and taken after the only gubernatorial debate, shows Republican Rick Snyder maintaining a 21 point lead over Democrat Virg Bernero.

The Foster McCollum White and Associates survey of 2,331 respondents who are likely to vote in the November 2nd election was conducted on October 11th, one day after the Snyder and Bernero debate that aired on radios and televisions across the state.

The poll shows 53.88% of those surveyed said they were certain or leaning toward voting for Snyder. 32.52% said they were certain or leaning toward Bernero.

The poll also shows 61% of so-called independent voters back Snyder while 24% support Bernero.

The margin of error is 2.03%.

Pollsters for Foster McCollum White and Associates say "the lack of details from both candidates was highlighted, yet Bernero suffered more criticism due to his current position as a Mayor and elected official. The expectation of details from Bernero was high, so the focus on outsourcing and the wall street argument didn't fulfill the expectation."

Past surveys show Bernero was gaining ground prior to the debate, yet lost most of it back to Snyder.

One negative against Snyder is that hard partisan support still hasn't climbed above 45%.

Pollsters conclude that Bernero needs what they call an "impactful and responding personal messaging event, to introduce him to all key voter groups and start the community impact discussion of the campaign" in order to climb back into the race.

Asked after the debate about the double digit deficit in recent polls, Bernero said "don't count me out."

Meantime, Snyder picked up an endorsement from the Detroit News Friday. The newspaper's endorsement says, among other things, Snyder "has a gift for identifying promising ventures and helping them to their feet.

That's what Michigan needs — more small businesses and start-ups that can take advantage of the opportunities the state provides to grow jobs and profits."

The paper says Bernero is " very much a partisan politician."

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