Democratic candidate El-Sayed leads U.S. Senate race in Michigan, new poll finds

In a recent poll, Michigan voters were asked what they thought about the U.S. Senate race.

A WDIV/Detroit News poll asked voters across the state about their opinions on various topics in the 2026 general election. Part of those questions focused on Michigan’s U.S. Senate race.

Favorability of candidates for the US Senate

Here is the exact wording of the statement read over the phone: I’m going to read you the names of several people you may have heard of. For each one, tell me if you have heard of this person. If you have heard of this person, tell me whether you have a favorable or unfavorable impression of this person.

Here are the results:

Mike Rogers

Name recognition: 96.8%

• Favorable: 32.2%

• Unfavorable: 49.2%

• Without reviews: 15.4%

• Never heard of it: 2.8%

• Don’t know/Refusal: 0.5%

Abdoul El-Sayed

Name recognition: 98.7%

• Favorable: 42.2%

• Unfavorable: 44.8%

• Without reviews: 11.7%

• Never heard of it: 1.1%

• Don’t know/Refused: 0.2%

El-Sayed leads the race, according to a poll

Here is the exact wording of a question asked by telephone: If the U.S. Senate election were held today and Abdul El-Sayed was the Democratic nominee and Mike Rogers was the Republican nominee, who would you vote for to be U.S. Senator from Michigan?

Here are the results:

El-Sayed: 51.4%

Rogers: 45.1%

Undecided: 3.6%

• Certainly El-Sayed: 43.4%

• Probably El-Sayed: 4.9%

• Léan El-Sayed: 3.1%

• Definitely Rogers: 40.3%

• Probably Rogers: 4.2%

• Lean Rogers: 0.6%

• Other: 0.0%

• Don’t know/Refused: 3.6%

Survey methodology

WDIV and Detroit News commissioned a survey of likely voters in Michigan’s November 2026 general election. The survey was conducted by The Glengariff Group, Inc.

This was a live operator telephone survey with a sample size of 600 that was conducted October 19-22, 2026.

The margin of error is +/-4.0% and the confidence level is 95%.

Of the respondents, 15.0% were called via a landline and 85.0% were called via a cell phone.