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ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

Thursday, October 26, 2017

Ann Arbor, Michigan

michigandaily.com

SPOOKY

Witches and goblins and Scooby Doo oh my! Arts enters some spooky territory with this week’s Halloween themed B-Side

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Gretchen Whitmer

Abdul El-Sayed

Patrick Colbeck

Bill Schuette

DESIGN BY NOAH SHERBIN

Students largely undecided on 2018 state gubernatorial race

Among students polled, 48 percent said they were still unsure who they would vote for COLIN BERESFORD & CARLY RYAN Daily Staff Reporters

In a poll of students conducted by The Daily earlier this month, a majority said they were unfamiliar with Michigan’s

gubernatorial candidates this year. The Daily talked to several major candidates to help provide a guide. The poll was sent to 500 students. Of the respondents, 32 percent of students said they are most likely to vote for Abdul El-Sayed, while 48 percent of respondents said they were

unsure whom they would vote for. Over 72 percent of the students reported they were registered to vote in the state of Michigan and 70 percent said they are planning on voting in the 2018 gubernatorial election. Fifty-two percent of students said they were not familiar at all with the candidates, while 0

percent said they were very familiar. Of the respondents, 10 percent said they would vote for a political party different than the one they voted for in the 2016 presidential election, suggesting either they do not like the direction their party is going in or they expect different policies for local government.

Meanwhile, 74 percent of students said they would vote for the same party as they did in the presidential election, while 16 percent remained unsure. Democratic candidate Gretchen Whitmer is currently the Democratic frontrunner, polling at 37 percent, tied to Republican frontrunner Bill Schuette, according to the Detroit Free Press in September. According to campaign finance reports released Wednesday, Whitmer’s campaign holds $1.5

million in bank balance, following $768,000 raised this quarter for a total of $2.3 million raised this election cycle. Whitmer began her political career in Michigan’s Congress, serving for six years in the House of Representative and serving in the state Senate since. In 2010 she was chosen to be the state Senate democratic leader, making her the first female leader of a party caucus in the Senate. However, Whitmer said it isn’t her gender that sets her apart from other See GUBERNATORIAL, Page 2A

Businessman spouts carbon dioxide Colbeck Professor highlights as an asset in talk on sustainability spearheads

GOVERNMENT

ACADEMICS

campaign promises

Head of Global CO2 Initiative seeks to turn emissions into marketable products

College Republicans host State Sen. to hear political platform, governor’s race

Talk of carbon dioxide in U.S. politics usually revolves around how to reduce its emission into the atmosphere. However, this narrative was rebuked by entrepreneur Bernard David, founder of the Global CO2 Initiative, who spoke about how to turn carbon dioxide from an environmental liability into an asset at an event Wednesday afternoon sponsored by the Graham Sustainability Institute. “It’s transforming CO2 into an asset, and CO2 is usually a negative,” said Engineering freshman Loren Mata, who attended the seminar as an elective requirement for one of her engineering classes. David’s organization, the Global CO2 Initiative, hopes to make products out of carbon dioxide, which he estimates could be a $1 trillion business by 2030 if “all the stars align.” “Climate change is one of the most complex challenges of our time. Left unaddressed, it will continue to cross geographic, social, and financial barriers — altering ecosystems and fundamentally changing life as we know it,” the initiative’s website reads. David believes taking a business approach to tackling climate change with long-term solutions, like those advocated by the Global CO2 Initiative, will help mitigate environmental problems.

ISHI MORI

Daily Staff Reporter

Pitching his political platform, State Sen. Patrick Colbeck, gubernatorial candidate, R-Canton, spoke to members of the University of Michigan’s chapter of College Republicans on Wednesday at the Michigan Union. The students in attendance gathered to question the secondterm state senator, who is known to be among the most conservative members of the chamber on issues ranging from Obamacare to road maintenance — in 2015, 56 percent of nonfederally funded roads were in poor condition, according to the Michigan Transportation Asset Management Council. LSA senior Enrique Zalamea, president of College Republicans, said he invited Colbeck before frontrunner Bill Schuette because an internal straw poll of College Republicans indicated that he was the most popular of the Republican candidates.