Michigan 2026 Poll: Abdul El-Sayed, Mallory McMorrow Tied for Lead in Democratic Senate Primary
Perry Johnson & John James Tied for GOP Nomination for Governor
A new Emerson College Polling/WOOD-TV survey of Michigan likely primary voters finds 24% support Abdul El-Sayed and Mallory McMorrow in the August Democratic U.S. Senate Primary, while 13% support Haley Stevens. Thirty-six percent are undecided. Support for El-Sayed increased eight points since the January Emerson College poll, while support for McMorrow increased two points and support for Stevens decreased four points.
“There are generational differences in the Michigan Democratic Senate Primary: voters under 40 support El-Sayed over McMorrow by a 17-point margin, 35% to 18%, while voters over 50 support McMorrow over El-Sayed by a 12-point margin, 29% to 17%, with 13% supporting Stevens,” Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, said.
In the Democratic Primary for Governor, a majority of voters, 52%, support Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to replace term-limited Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Five percent support Chris Swanson, and 36% are undecided.
In the Republican Primary for Governor, 21% support Perry Johnson, 20% Rep. John James, and 10% Mike Cox. Thirty-nine percent are undecided.
In the Republican Primary for Senate, 55% support former 2024 candidate Mike Rogers, while 38% are undecided.
A plurality of Michigan primary voters (40%) think the economy is the top issue facing the state, followed by threats to democracy (15%), healthcare (10%), housing affordability (8%), education (8%), immigration (7%), and crime (5%).
Primary voters oppose the U.S. military action against Iran 53% to 39%, while 8% are not sure.
“Democrats strongly oppose U.S. military action in Iran, 85% to 11%, Republicans support it 78% to 10%, and independents oppose it 56% to 34%,” Kimball said.
A majority of primary voters (55%) oppose data centers being built in or near their community, while 27% support them. Eighteen percent are neutral or have no opinion. Democratic primary voters oppose data centers by a 41-point margin, 63% to 22%, while Republican primary voters oppose by 12 points, 45% to 33%.
Poll Methodology
The Emerson College Polling Michigan survey was conducted April 11-13, 2026. The overall sample of Michigan likely primary voters, n=971, has a credibility interval, similar to a poll’s margin of error (MOE), of +/- 3.1 percent. The sample of Democratic primary voters, n=519, has a margin of error of 4.3%. The sample of Republican primary voters, n=452, has a margin of error of 4.6%. The data sets were weighted by gender, education, race, age, party, and region based on U.S. Census parameters and voter file data.
It is important to remember that subsets based on demographics, such as gender, age, education, and race/ethnicity, carry with them higher credibility intervals, as the sample size is reduced. Survey results should be understood within the poll’s range of scores, and with a confidence interval of 95% a poll will fall outside the range of scores 1 in 20 times.
Data was collected by contacting registered voters from a voter file provided by Aristotle using email; a probability-based panel of voters provided by Consensus Strategies using MMS text-to-web; and additional panel interviews provided by PureSpectrum. Panel responses were matched to the Aristotle voter file using respondents’ full name and ZIP code. The survey was offered in English.
All questions asked in this survey with exact wording and order, along with full results, demographics, and cross tabulations can be found below. The survey was sponsored by WOOD-TV/Nexstar Media.
