Poll: Detroiters dissatisfied with Conyers

Darren A. Nichols and Leonard N. Fleming / The Detroit News

Detroit -- City residents are divided on whether they trust suburban officials to give Detroit a square deal on regional issues, but overwhelmingly disapprove of City Council President Monica Conyers' leadership on Cobo Center and other issues, a Detroit News/WXYZ-Channel 7 poll shows.

The poll of 400 likely voters in Tuesday's mayoral matchup between Kenneth Cockrel Jr. and Dave Bing suggests Conyers' Detroit-first message resonates with nearly half of the electorate, but most disapprove of her. The poll had Cockrel leading 39 percent to 33 percent, but found that 24 percent of voters remain undecided.

The survey found Detroiters split on whether they "trust the government leaders of surrounding communities to fairly deal with the City of Detroit as an equal partner," with 47 percent trusting suburbanites and 45 not.

Those issues were underscored in the recent debate about the transfer of Cobo Center from the city to a regional authority, which would have cleared the way for a $288 million expansion. Conyers led the fight that killed the effort, arguing that $20 million wasn't enough for the city to give up the riverfront facility.

The poll by Lansing-based EPIC-MRA, which has an error rate of 4.9 percentage points, shows 81 percent of residents gave Conyers poor marks for "handling issues where she has taken a public stand, such as the recent Cobo Hall expansion."

Just 6 percent gave her "excellent" marks.

The numbers reveal little support for a Conyers' write-in campaign for mayor: 4 percent of voters said they would vote for her if she ran Tuesday, while 42 percent favored Cockrel and 30 percent went with Bing.

Another 80 percent gave negative marks to the City Council that Conyers leads. And 69 percent said they view Conyers unfavorably.

"There is a clear negative image or view of her," pollster Bernie Porn said. "She's clearly not connecting with voters. The only positive thing is her numbers are not better than the Detroit City Council as an institution."

Conyers issued a statement emphasizing the poll's margin of error and adding, "polls do not vote, people vote."

Earlier in the week, she told viewers of her TV show that she is emboldened by press criticism.

"If the media is saying bad things about you, you must be doing something right for the city of Detroit," Conyers said on "Ask the Councilwoman with Monica Conyers on WHPR-Channel 33.