Kid Rock, the rock-rapper and outspoken Donald Trump supporter, tops the field Republican field in a new Michigan Senate poll, but trails Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow.
Considering Rock, or Robert Ritchie as he was born, hasn't yet declared his candidacy in the race, Stabenow's 8-point lead in a hypothetical matchup will likely add fuel to his possible candidacy. In a hypothetical Republican primary matchup, he polled at 33 percent support compared with his closest rival, businessman and veteran John James, who had 16 percent.
The poll showed 49 percent of likely Michigan voters think Trump is doing an "excellent" or "pretty good" job as president, a much more positive assessment than Trump's national approval numbers, currently under 40 percent.
Ritchie has been an ardent Trump supporter since he switched support from Ben Carson when Trump won the Republican presidential nomination. Since then he began selling pro-Trump merchandise in his online store, including T-shirts with the phrase "God, Guns & Trump." He supported Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election.
Despite not having officially announced his run, Ritchie is also selling "Kid Rock for Senate 2018" shirts, hats, bumper stickers and yard signs, alongside the Trump items and a Trump-styled "Make America Badass Again" hat. He also announced plans last week to create a nonprofit organization supporting voter registration.
Republican consultant John Truscott said that at this point Ritchie's success was "almost purely name ID. ... He's quite a personality, and when your vote isn't counting for anything this far out, it's really easy to support something that's a little out of the ordinary."
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rates the race Solid Democrat, but Trump's 2016 win in the state and his sustained popularity has Republicans feeling more confident.
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