Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and other Republican presidential candidates are critical of multi-billion-dollar government loans to U.S. auto companies.

Romney is the son of a former Michigan governor and auto industry executive. But University of Michigan economics professor Bruce Pietrykowski says Romney's stance against auto industry loans will not win him voter support.

“I think people will take a good hard look at that and what might have happened if he was president - he wouldn’t have supported the support for auto industry - and I think that might turn some people off, quite honestly,” he said.

That is something Michigan’s current Republican Governor Rick Snyder is keenly aware of.

“I don’t criticize people over the bailout, because the way I viewed it is, it wasn’t about simply about the bankruptcy of one company or two companies, you were talking about the whole supply chain,” he said.

“I think there is probably some sentiment that this was an unnecessary government intrusion and we should have not supported them, but by and large at least in the centers of population, and the Democratic strongholds, in and around Detroit, the policy is going to be seen in quite a favorable light,” said economics professor Bruce Pietrykowski.

Autoworkers union president George McGregor see it favorably and wants President Obama to talk more about the bailouts on the campaign trail.