A new survey from Michigan State University shows Democrat Jocelyn Benson with a substantial lead in the governor's race and Abdul El-Sayed slightly ahead of Republican Mike Rogers in the U.S. Senate race.
MSU's Institute for Public Policy and Social Research released its latest State of the State Survey on Monday, Oct. 26. For the survey, data analytics firm YouGov interviewed 1,000 randomly chosen Michigan adults between Oct. 2-19 and the margin of error is plus or minus 4.4 percentage points for the likely voter group of 836 respondents.
The survey showed Benson, the current Michigan secretary of state from Detroit, leading Republican U.S. Rep. John James of Shelby Township 53.3%-40.9% in the governor's race among likely voters, with 5.9% undecided.
(Totals may exceed 100% due to rounding.)
In the race for Michigan's open U.S. Senate seat, El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee and former Wayne County and Detroit health director from Ann Arbor, held a much more narrow lead of 47.7%-44.2% over Rogers, the former congressman from among likely voters, with 8.2% undecided.
Additional data, including breakdowns of how specific demographic groups responded, was not released immediately, in accordance with MSU's past practices. The Institute for Public Policy said, however, that the survey — which had Benson leading James by 9 points in August and El-Sayed by 5.5 points on Rogers at that time — showed Benson outperforming El-Sayed among independents, Wayne County residents, Black voters, Catholics and voters describing themselves as moderates.
El-Sayed outperformed Benson among voters under the age of 30, according to the survey.
"The gap between the governor and Senate races has grown, with centrist voters more likely to support Benson than El-Sayed," said Matt Grossmann, director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at Michigan State.
Islamophobia also is considered to be a factor in the Senate race, the Institute said, with about 38% of voters saying they were a less likely to support a Muslim candidate. Meanwhile, 52% of voters said they were less likely to support a candidate if he or she had been endorsed by Republican President Donald Trump.
In theRealClearPolling average of polls, Bensoncurrently has a 6.3-percentage-point lead over James. El-Sayed has seen his lead drop somewhat in the average of polls, down to 1.9-percentage-point over Rogers with the election on Nov. 3.
Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @tsspangler.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: MSU survey: Benson opens big lead, El-Sayed narrowly ahead of Rogers
