Poll: Gary Peters opens nearly 10-point lead on John James in Michigan US Senate race

Peters lead jumps in final election stretch

DETROIT – Michigan Democratic U.S. Senator Gary Peters has increased his lead over Republican challenger John James heading into the final stretch of the 2020 election, a new WDIV/Detroit News poll shows.

The race for the U.S. Senate seat in Michigan has been a tight one, with previous WDIV/Detroit News polls showing the race in the margin of error - or just outside of it.

Since the early October survey, there has a been a major shift in the race. Gary Peters now leads John James by a margin of 48.4%-38.8%, with 8.7% of voters remaining undecided. Peters leads by 9.6%, virtually matching Biden’s percentage of 49.3.%. At 38.8%, James trails Trump’s 41.6% by 2.8% points.

  • Peters is winning 91.3% of Biden voters and 6.4% of Trump voters.
  • James is winning 87.0% of Trump voters and 2.4% of Biden voters.
  • Voters who are undecided in the US Senate race are splitting their vote equally in the Presidential race.

By a margin of 47.2% Democratic to 40.1% Republican, Michigan voters prefer the Democratic Party to control the U.S. Senate. This number is largely driven by the party advantage of Democrats in Michigan.

Gary Peters name identification is breaking 39.1% favorable to 30.9% unfavorable. John James name identification is breaking 33.3% favorable to 40.4% unfavorable.

Related coverage:

Methodology:

The Glengariff Group, Inc. conducted a Michigan statewide survey of November 2020 likely general election voters. The 600 sample, live operator telephone survey was conducted on October 23-25, 2020 and has a margin of error of +/-4.0% with a 95% level of confidence. 50.0% of respondents were contacted via landline telephone. 50.0% of respondents were contacted via cell phone telephone. This survey was commissioned by WDIV Local 4 News and the Detroit News.

Who was surveyed:


About the Author:

Ken Haddad has proudly been with WDIV/ClickOnDetroit since 2013. He also authors the Morning Report Newsletter and various other newsletters, and helps lead the WDIV Insider team. He's a big sports fan and is constantly sipping Lions Kool-Aid.