“He is absolutely focused on doing the job he was hired to do,” Wurfel said. “The governor doesn’t think at all about reelection.”

Snyder, a multi-millionaire businessman who virtually had no prior political experience, previously indicated he might not seek reelection in 2014.

“I’m not doing the job for the sake of saying I was governor of Michigan for ‘X’ number of years,” Snyder told The Associated Press earlier in the month. “It’s more about making a difference and giving something back.”

That came after he told Michigan Information & Research Service he might not seek re-election if his agenda was completed by the end of one term, and might let “better, smarter people” take over so he can see Michigan “be successful in the long term.”

Doug Roberts, director of MSU’s Institute for Public Policy and Social Research, said indicting one-term plans can weaken a governor’s influence with the legislature as they already would see him as a “lame duck.”

“It means you won’t have the same leverage,” Roberts said.
But Snyder still is “not declaring that he’s running for office,” Wurfel said, saying the talks about Snyder’s future plans are “extremely premature.”

Bill Ballenger, editor of Inside Michigan Politics, a statewide political newsletter, said he didn’t think the governor’s initial remarks indicated plans to dip out of the governorship.

“Why he gets into this game with the news media … is a mystery to me,” Ballenger said. “He doesn’t have to make any kind of announcement.”

Michigan has not had a one-term governor since 1961, when Democrat John Swainson was defeated by Republican George Romney.

Recent polls show Synder’s approval rating steadily declining, dropping from 44.5 percent to 31.5 percent in August according to an MSU study — a larger drop than former governors Jennifer Granholm or John Engler’s approval rating had near the beginning of their terms.

Michigan has laws that limit governors to serve two terms. Engler was the last governor to serve three terms from 1991-2003.