LANSING, Mich. — A statewide poll released Tuesday by the Detroit Regional Chamber showed Democrat Jocelyn Benson in the lead of the race to be Michigan's next governor and independent Mike Duggan losing ground on the major party candidates. Twenty-five weeks ahead of the November general election, the Detroit business organization, which has already endorsed Duggan, commissioned a survey of ...

Former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan's independent campaign for governor lost ground in a new statewide poll of likely voters commissioned by the Detroit Regional Chamber.

Katy Kildee/The Detroit News/TNS

LANSING, Mich. — A statewide poll released Tuesday by the Detroit Regional Chamber showed Democrat Jocelyn Benson in the lead of the race to be Michigan's next governor and independent Mike Duggan losing ground on the major party candidates.

Twenty-five weeks ahead of the November general election, the Detroit business organization, which has already endorsed Duggan, commissioned a survey of 600 likely Michigan voters who were asked questions over the phone from April 28 through May 1.

In response to one potential three-way matchup, about 34% of voters surveyed said they supported Benson, the current secretary of state from Detroit, 29% said they backed Republican U.S. Rep. John James of Shelby Township, and 23% said they preferred Duggan, the former mayor of Detroit who's running as an independent. About 14% were undecided.

The margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points.

The new numbers represented a stark shift from a similar poll from the Detroit Regional Chamber in late January and early February. That survey showed the same three candidates in a dead heat with Duggan at 30%, James at 29% and Benson at 28%.

Amid war in Iran and rising gas prices, the election is increasingly becoming a referendum on Republican President Donald Trump, said pollster Richard Czuba, whose firm, the Glengariff Group, conducted both polls for the Detroit Regional Chamber.

"Those Democrats are now consolidating and voting in one single bloc," Czuba said of Benson's strengthening support.

During a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Duggan acknowledged he could feel on the campaign trail that "soft Democrats" had begun to only want to talk about the conflict in Iran and $5-a-gallon gas in recent weeks. Because of that development and a big win for Democrats in a state Senate special election on May 5, Duggan said he figured the next poll would be "ugly."

"When I saw Benson was only at 34%, I was pretty relieved," Duggan said. "So I've got work to do."

Duggan's campaign announced Tuesday he had won the endorsement of the political group The Black Slate.

Benson's support grows

The Detroit Regional Chamber released the new poll two weeks ahead of its annual Mackinac Policy Conference at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, where it's planning to give Duggan his own stage time to woo the state's business, education and philanthropic leaders.

Put Progress First, a nonprofit group backing Duggan, has spent millions of dollars on TV advertising since he launched his bid and broke from the Democratic Party in December 2024. The heavy spending has continued during the period between the two polls that showed Duggan's support dropping.

Nikki Goldschein, Benson's campaign manager, said Duggan's side has expended $12 million, but he remains "stuck in a distant third place and losing ground."

"And the Republican candidates are too busy bending the knee to Donald Trump to actually focus on the needs of Michiganders," Goldschein said. "While Duggan and James answer to corporate interests, Jocelyn Benson answers to Michiganders.”

In the new poll, Benson had the support of 76% of the individuals who described themselves as "strong Democrats." James had the backing of 72% of those who listed themselves as "strong Republicans."

Likewise, Benson was dominating the race among female voters. She got 43% of the women who participated in the survey, while James got 27% and Duggan got 17%.

As for the male participants, James got 32%, Duggan got 30%, and Benson got 24%

Problem for the GOP?

The new numbers could also be cause for alarm among Michigan Republicans because 57% of participants said they disapproved of the job Trump has been doing as president. Further, 48% said they strongly disapproved.

As for those who approved of the president's job performance, that number was at 37%.

Likewise, Duggan took more Republican-leaning support in the new survey than he did Democratic-leaning support in the new poll. Duggan got about 24% of the Republican voters but only 16% of Democratic voters, according to the survey's results.

Czuba said the main difference is that Democrats have consolidated their voters while Republicans have not. Still, there's more than five months remaining until the Nov. 3 election.

James is currently in a five-person race for the GOP nomination for governor. The field also includes former Attorney General Mike Cox of Livonia, businessman Perry Johnson of Bloomfield Hills, state Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt of Porter Township and pastor Ralph Rebandt of Elmira. A separate poll of Republican primary voters, commissioned by the Detroit Regional Chamber last month, found James with a 17-point lead over Johnson.

Hannah Osantowske, spokeswoman for the James campaign, posted on social media Tuesday that the congressman has "has outrun $30 million in combined spending from Perry Johnson and Mike Duggan because Michigan voters recognize real leadership over purchased politics."

Perry Johnson's polling

The Detroit Regional Chamber also polled voters on a three-way race featuring Benson, Duggan and Johnson, who has spent millions of dollars of his own money on TV ads this year. In that matchup, Benson was at 34%, Johnson was at 26%, and Duggan was at 23%. The undecided number went to 17%.

John Yob, a political adviser for the Johnson campaign, predicted on Tuesday that Republican support would consolidate around the GOP nominee after the Aug. 4 primary.

Benson is the heavy favorite for the Democratic nomination in her party's primary. Her two Democratic competitors are Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson of Fenton and Kim Thomas of Battle Creek.

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