LANSING -- A poll of Michigan voters found the electorate optimistic about the direction the state is taking for the first time since 2003.

According to a poll conducted by public relations firm Marketing Resource Group, 46 percent of Michigan voters reported feeling that the state is headed in the right direction, compared to 43 percent who said the state was headed in the wrong direction. Another 11 percent said they didn't know.

More voters said Michigan's economy had improved in the last year compared to those who said it had gotten worse, with 48 percent noting improvement and 15 percent saying it had gotten worse. Another 36 percent said the economy was about the same.

"For the first time in almost a decade, it appears that voters believe that Michigan has finally turned a corner. After nine years of doom and gloom in Michigan, voters are finally feeling good about the direction of the State and the economy," said Tom Shields, President of Marketing Resource Group, Inc. "The positive mood of the electorate could be a boost for those state office holders running for reelection in the fall."

There is a geographic divide to that optimism, however.

The majority of voters in Oakland County, Macomb County, Mid-Michigan, Traverse City and Northern Michigan believe the state is headed in the right direction, while most voters in Western Michigan, Flint, Saginaw and Wayne County believe the state is still on the wrong track.

On the national level, Michigan voters were more unified in their assessment of the direction the country is headed.

Some 56 percent of voters said the country had gotten "pretty seriously off track," while only 36 percent believed the nation was headed in the right direction.

The poll of 600 likely voters who indicated they would vote in the November general election was conducted March 14 through March 19 by live interviewers over the phone.

E-mail Angela Wittrock:

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