by
John James, Jocelyn Benson, Mike Duggan
The latest poll shows Republican Congressman John James leading Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson in a hypothetical three-way race for governor in the 2026 general election, with Independent Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan trailing both by a sizeable margin.
The poll, conducted between Nov. 18–21 by Mitchell Research & Communications for Michigan Information & Research Service (MIRS), shows James and Benson with dominant leads in their parties' gubernatorial primaries.
In the U.S. Senate race in the general election, the poll shows former Republican Congressman Mike Rogers with a slight lead in hypothetical matchups against each of the Democratic candidates—Congresswoman Haley Stevens, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, and Abdul El-Sayed.
In the Democratic primary for Senate, the poll shows Stevens with a narrow lead over McMorrow and a bigger one over El-Sayed.
The margin of error in the general election poll is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points. Among Democratic and Republican primary voters, the margin of error is a little more than plus or minus 6 percentage points.
Here's the numbers:
General Election for Governor:
►John James (R): 37 percent
►Jocelyn Benson (D): 31 percent
►Mike Duggan (I): 18 percent
►Undecided: 14 percent.
Another General Election Matchup for Governor:
►Joycelyn Benson (D) : 33 percent
►Mike Cox (R) (former Michigan Attorney General): 32 percent
►Mike Duggan (I): 19 percent
►Undecided: 16 percent
Third Matchup:
►Jocelyn Benson (D): 32 percent
►Aric Nesbitt (R) (state Senate majortity leader): 27 percent
►Mike Duggan (I): 22 percent
►Undecided: 19 percent.
GOP Primary Race for Governor:
►John James: 48 percent
►Mike Cox: 11 percent
►Tom Leonard (former House speaker): 5 percent
►Aric Nesbitt: 2 percent
►Ralph Rebrandt (Retired evangelical minister): 1 percent
►Undecided: 33 percent
Democratic Primary for Governor:
►Jocelyn Benson: 48 percent
►Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II: 12 percent
►Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson: 5 percent
►Not Sure: 35 percent
U.S. Senate Race -- General Election:
►Mike Rogers (R): 41 percent
►Abdul El-Sayed (D): 38 percent
►Not Sure: 22 percent
Second Matchup:
►Mike Rogers (R): 44 percent
►Mallory Morrow (D): 38 percent
►Not Sure: 19 percent
Third Matchup:
►Mike Rogers (R): 42 percent
►Haley Stevens (D): 40 percent
►Not Sure: 18 percent
Democratic Primary for U.S. Senate:
►Haley Stevens: 27 percent
►Mallory McMorrow: 24 percent
►Abdul El-Sayed: 16 percent
►Not Sure: 33 percent
Steve Mitchell, president of Mitchell Research & Communications, noted in an analysis of the poll that while James leads the poll in the primary, Nesbitt and Leonard are raising money and "intend to be very competitive. It's too early to count out anyone."
Mitchell also notes that Duggan seems to be doing slightly better with Democrats than Republicans.
