Many of Michigan's local leaders offer high marks for the health of democracy in their respective communities, continuing an improving trend despite lower ratings for the state as a whole.
That's the key finding from the latest installment of the Michigan Public Policy Survey conducted by the University of Michigan's Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy. Since 2020, the survey has gauged leaders' confidence in the state of democracy in their communities-assessing such things as free and fair elections, rule of law, an unbiased and free press, ethical and transparent governance, and an informed and engaged electorate.
This year, 85% of Michigan officials statewide report highly functioning local democracy, increasing from 82% last year and a low of 79% in 2024. About 4% of local officials view their local democracy as poorly functioning this year, consistent with most prior years.
Despite the uptick, nearly 30% rate the state government in Lansing overall as poorly functioning-slightly worse than the year before. The slight drop is mostly among leaders who self-identify as Democrats.
Still, the survey notes, local leaders' ratings of the health of Michigan's democracy have been trending upward since a sharp decline between 2020 and 2021.
"On the eve of a historic midterm election where many people feel that the future of American democracy is on the line, it's worth remembering that assessments of democracy have remained pretty strong at the local level," said Stephanie Leiser, CLOSUP's director and one of the report's co-authors. "We encourage everyone to make sure they vote on all of their local races and ballot questions."
The Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy at U-M's Ford School of Public Policy conducts the survey each spring. The 2026 edition gathered information between March and June, through its census survey of 1,856 general purpose local governments statewide.
Respondents include city, township, village and county officials from 1,328 jurisdictions, representing a 72% response rate by unit.
