In the race to replace retiring Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, Emerson College Polling finds two frontrunners in the Democratic and Republican primaries. In the Democratic primary, Attorney General Maura Healey is at 34%, State Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz is at 8%; 43% are undecided. In the Republican primary, former State Representative Geoff Diehl leads with 37%, Chris Doughty follows with 9%, and Shiva Ayyadurai at 6%; 41% are undecided.
In a potential general election matchup between Maura Healey and Geoff Diehl, Healey leads Diehl 59% to 31% with 10% undecided.
A majority, 59%, of Massachusetts voters approve of the job Charlie Baker is doing as Governor. Spencer Kimball, Executive Director of Emerson College Polling said, “Baker’s job approval is highest among Democrats at 67% and 59% of Independents, but drops among Republicans to 36%."
However, within the Massachusetts Republican primary, more specifically registered Republicans, Baker’s endorsement carries little weight. A plurality, 45%, of Republican primary voters say Governor Charlie Baker’s endorsement makes them less likely to support a candidate, whereas 46% of Republican primary voters say they are more likely to support a candidate if Trump endorsed them.
The economy is the most important issue facing Massachusetts for 43% of voters, followed by healthcare (12%), education (9%), and Covid-19 (6%). Crime, the Ukraine-Russia war, and immigration each received 5%.
Seventy-one percent of Massachusetts voters think the state runs fair elections, while 23% think it does not and 16% are unsure.
Forty-six percent think gambling on professional and college sports should be legal in Massachusetts. 34% think it should not be, and 21% are unsure.
“There is a stark age divide when it comes to sports gambling: 62% of 18-29 year olds and 56% of 30-49 year olds think it should be legal, compared to a lesser 40% of 50-64 and just 28% of those over 65 who think it should be legal.” Kimball continued, “Men are much more in favor of sports gambling than women: 60% of men think it should be legal compared to 32% of women.”
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The Emerson College Polling Massachusetts poll was conducted May 2-4, 2022. The general sample consisted of registered voters, n=848, with a Credibility Interval (CI) similar to a poll’s margin of error (MOE) of +/- 3.3 percentage points. The Democratic primary consisted of 488 likely Democratic primary voters, with a Credibility Interval (CI) similar to a poll’s margin of error (MOE) of +/- 4.6 percentage points. The Republican primary consisted of 288 Republican primary voters, with a Credibility Interval (CI) similar to a poll’s margin of error (MOE) of +/- 6.5 percentage points. The data sets were weighted by gender, age, education, race, and region based on 2022 turnout modeling. It is important to remember that subsets based on gender, age, ethnicity, and region carry with them higher margins of error, as the sample size is reduced. Data was collected using a cellphone sample of SMS-to-web, an online panel provided by Amazon MTurk, and an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system of landlines.
