LANSING — A new poll has Republican Attorney General Bill Schuette leading former Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, by three percentage points in the 2018 race for governor.

Of the 600 active and likely voters polled by EPIC-MRA of Lansing, 38% said they would support Schuette in a head-to-head matchup, while 35% said they would vote for Whitmer.

Schuette's edge is within the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Bernie Porn, president of EPIC-MRA, said he only tested Schuette and Whitmer because they are the current front-runners by significant margins.

More on the 2018 election:

Who's running for Congress in Michigan? Here's what we know

Snyder sets Aug. 7, Nov. 6 election dates to replace John Conyers in Congress

When his firm tested Schuette and Whitmer in a head-to-head matchup in August, they were tied 37% to 37%.

Whitmer remains well-positioned, Porn said, because she is within the margin of error despite a lack of name recognition.

Of those polled, 12% had a favorable view of Whitmer while 6% had an unfavorable view, and 64% did not recognize her name. Whitmer's name recognition has worsened since August, when 57% said they did not recognize her name.

Schuette had a 22% favorable rating and 20% unfavorable, while 24% said they did not recognize his name. Schuette's name recognition was unchanged from August.

A Schuette campaign spokeswoman did not immediately respond to an e-mail and phone message seeking comment. Stu Sandler, a Michigan Republican consultant backing Schuette, said: "I think these are solid numbers," for the attorney general.

Annie Ellison, a campaign spokeswoman, said Whitmer is "energized by the excitement for this campaign that she sees as she travels the state," and "continues to build her movement to grow our economy and prepare our kids to succeed."

In other results, 61% gave President Donald Trump a negative job approval rating, while 37% gave him a positive one. In August, Trump's unfavorable-favorable numbers were 56% to 36%.

Of those polled, 47% said Trump is mentally stable, while 42% said he is mentally unstable. Those numbers were 45% to 43% in August.

Of those sampled by live operators, 30% were reached by cell phone. Those who identified as Democrats made up 45% of the sample, while 41% identified as Republicans and 10% said they were Independent.

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4.