by
John James, Jocelyn Benson, Mike Duggan
A poll released Monday shows a tight three-way race for governor between Democrat Jocelyn Benson, Republican John James, and Independent Mike Duggan.
The poll of 600 people, conducted between Jan. 27 and Feb. 2 by the Glengariff Group, Inc. for the Detroit Chamber of Commerce, showed among likely voters:
►Jocelyn Benson (D): 28 percent
►Mike Duggan (I): 30.1 percent
►John James (R) : 28.9 percent
►Refused to Answer: 12 percent
►Other: 1 percent
The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
"Poll after poll, our campaign is the only one that’s building support and momentum," Duggan said in a statement on X. "The two party candidates are running in place or losing ground."
The Chamber, which favors Duggan, said in a statement:
"This poll represents a dramatic increase in support for Duggan’s candidacy, moving from 21.5% in the Chamber’s May 2025 Political Survey to essentially a three-way tie between Jocelyn Benson, Mike Duggan, and John James."
"The Chamber thinks, despite occasional policy disagreements with Mike Duggan over the years, that he represents the best chance to bring the political polarization in Michigan to common ground, which is the theme of the 2026 Mackinac Policy Conference."
The poll also asked voters questions about issues like the economy and inflation, leading Richard Czuba, president of the Glengariff Group, Inc. to say in a statement:
"On nearly every metric we tested, Michigan voters believe the state is doing average against the other states. The reality is that Michigan is doing far worse. Michigan voters have no clue how we stack up against the other states, even on those metrics where Michigan is at the bottom of the list.”
The Michigan Democratic Party has relentlessly attacked Duggan, fearing his third party candidacy will take votes away from the Democratic candidate in the general electioin. Duggan has in turn taken shots at the party.
