Michigan Governor
Candidates
| Candidate | Party | Poll avg | Latest poll | Raised | Cash | Outside for / against |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jocelyn Benson | D | 51.6% (8) | 50.4% | — | — | — |
| John James | R | 42.9% (8) | 45.8% | — | — | — |
Unweighted mean of the latest general-election poll from each of 8 pollsters since 2026-09-20.
Tracking the poll average daily since November 3, 2026; a chart appears after three days.
Polls 45 in the window
| Field dates | Pollster | Sample | Result | D − R |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 1 | Emerson College for Poll Vault | 500 LV | Jocelyn Benson D 50.4 · John James R 45.8 · Donna Brandenburg 2 | +4.6 |
| Nov 1 from Oct 30 | Concord Public Opinion Partners for Education Reform Now Advocacy D-sponsored | 510 LV | Jocelyn Benson D 50 · John James R 41 | +9.0 |
| Nov 1 from Oct 28 | AtlasIntel | 1,316 LV | Jocelyn Benson D 53.2 · John James R 45.2 | +8.0 |
| Nov 1 from Oct 30 | Research Co. | 450 LV | Jocelyn Benson D 53 · John James R 41 | +12.0 |
| Nov 1 from Oct 23 | The New York Times/Siena University | 1,011 LV | Jocelyn Benson D 51.8 · John James R 39.4 | +12.4 |
| Oct 29 from Oct 26 | YouGov | 2,086 LV | Jocelyn Benson D 52 · John James R 46 | +6.0 |
| Oct 27 from Oct 20 | CNN/SSRS | 768 LV | Jocelyn Benson D 53 · John James R 41 · Neither 3 | +12.0 |
| Oct 27 from Oct 26 | Mitchell Research & Communications for CBS Detroit | 636 LV | Jocelyn Benson D 49 · John James R 44 | +5.0 |
| Oct 25 from Oct 23 | Data for Progress | 622 LV | Jocelyn Benson D 52 · John James R 43 · Donna Brandenburg 1 | +9.0 |
| Oct 23 from Oct 8 | Michigan State University Office for Survey Research/Verasight | 1,383 LV | Jocelyn Benson D 51.4 · John James R 41.2 | +10.2 |
| Oct 22 from Oct 19 | Glengariff Group, Inc. for Detroit News | WDIV-TV | 600 LV | Jocelyn Benson D 51.4 · John James R 44.5 | +6.9 |
| Oct 19 from Oct 2 | Michigan State University Institute for Public Policy and Social Research/YouGov | 836 LV | Jocelyn Benson D 53.3 · John James R 40.9 | +12.4 |
| Oct 19 from Oct 2 | Michigan State University Institute for Public Policy and Social Research/YouGov | 1,000 A | Jocelyn Benson D 45.7 · John James R 36.6 | +9.1 |
| Oct 18 from Oct 15 | Marist University | 1,185 RV | Jocelyn Benson D 53 · John James R 42 | +11.0 |
| Oct 18 from Oct 15 | Marist University | 1,185 LV | Jocelyn Benson D 51 · John James R 45 | +6.0 |
Money
Governors are regulated by state campaign-finance law. There is no federal feed for them, so this page carries no money figures for governor races rather than a partial or scraped set.
Platform ad spend
Meta's Ad Library Report, Google's Ads Transparency Center and Snap's political-ads library. An advertiser is tied to a candidate only when its name carries the candidate's surname together with this state or the candidate's full name; outside groups that do not name a candidate appear in the state and district totals, not here.
| Platform | Advertiser | Tied to | Spend | Window |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan Republican Party & JOHN JAMES FOR MI | John James R | $378k | last 4 weeks | |
| JOHN JAMES FOR MI | John James R | $260k | last 4 weeks |
Meta in Michigan: $5.8M Oct 25, 2026 - Oct 31, 2026 · Google in Michigan: $215.3M lifetime · Snap targeted at Michigan: $435k in 2026.
All governor races → · The races hub → · JSON
Polls: PollResults.org (New York Times poll data), CC BY 4.0 (1,579 poll questions in the window). Money: FEC candidate totals and Schedule E independent-expenditure totals for the 2026 cycle. Platform ad spend: Meta Ad Library Report (U.S., 7-day preset, read from the report page), Google Ads Transparency Center CSV bundle and Snap political ads library, via Corvus Intel. Snapshot 2026-11-04 00:20 UTC, refreshed every six hours. No model wrote these figures, and no prediction-market price is used. Read how we work, or see the Politics desk for the analysis built on top of them. JSON.