Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democratic candidate for governor, is interviewed by the Michigan Advance on the porch of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., during the second day of the Mackinac Policy Conference on May 28, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)
New internal polling conducted by Impact Research shows Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who is seeking the Democratic Party nomination for governor in 2026, with a commanding lead compared to her opponents in the primary field.
The polling obtained by Michigan Advance has Benson ahead of the two other major candidates in the race; Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II by 39 percentage points among those tapped by Impact Research, while Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson was behind Benson by 51 percentage points.
Although the sample size was relatively small – the poll interviewed just 453 people and had a margin of error of +/- 4.6% – the data is some of the latest polling in a race that hasn’t seen a decent temperature check since the beginning of the year.
Still, the internal data collected between Sept. 30 and Oct. 6 shows Benson’s advantage compared to the rest of the field.
Benson’s favorability among primary voters was high and exceeded her opponents in Gilchrist and Swanson. The secretary of state was polled as being 77% favorable and 13% unfavorable, with an 89% share of name recognition in the race. Polling on how well she’s handled her job as secretary of state shows she has a 83% positive rating, Impact Research said.
Comparatively, Gilchrist’s name ID in the Impact poll was relatively low, while Swanson’s name ID was slightly higher.
SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Neither Gilchrist nor Swanson were rated at more than 60% on the favorability scale, with the lieutenant governor netting a 55% favorability rating and the sheriff garnering a 13% favorability rating, Impact Research said.
Overall, the nearly 500 people questioned in the poll said they preferred Benson at 56%, compared to those who preferred Gilchrist at 17% and those who would be pulling for Swanson at 5%.
If the race was just between Benson and Gilchrist, the secretary of state still comes out on top, the polling suggested. For those who view both favorably, the data shows that more than half of the primary electorate views Benson as 60% favorable in the race to take on the presumptive Republican candidate as well as independent candidate Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan in November of next year. That’s compared to Gilchrist’s 26% favorability rating among that cohort.
At least 23% of those polled said they were still undecided in the race, giving Gilchrist an opportunity to make up more ground before the August 2026 primary.
The data also shows that Benson leads among key demographic groups, including both white and black primary voters, men and women, younger and older voters, and across the ideological spectrum of Democratic primary voters.
When asked for a comment on the poll and its findings, and if the campaign had also done any recent polling that showed Gilchrist in better command of the race, Danya Rafiqi, manager for the Gilchrist campaign, poured cold water on the Impact Research findings.
“Cooking up a bogus internal poll to get a headline is a tired political trick. While other candidates use gimmicks to build a narrative about their support, Garlin Gilchrist is focused on building genuine support,” Rafiqi said in a statement to the Advance. “Garlin has the momentum in this race because he’s laser focused on defeating MAGA John James and because he’s actually showing up in every community, meeting with voters and building support on college campuses, shop floors, and main streets all across Michigan.”
Messages seeking comment from Swanson’s campaigns, and requests for any internal polling they might have available, were not returned at the time of publication.
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
