Healey holds 23-point lead over Minogue in Massachusetts race
Five polls show the governor ahead by double digits despite high gas prices and stalled housing bills.
By Carmen Wojcik ·
Voters in Massachusetts are set to keep their current governor despite rising costs and legislative gridlock. Five recent polls show Maura Healey leading her Republican challenger by wide margins.
A Commonwealth Beacon/MassINC poll from mid-September placed Healey 22 points ahead of Mike Minogue. A UMass Amherst/WCVB survey early in October widened that gap to 25 points. A Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll from mid-October showed a 23-point lead. Two additional surveys confirmed the trend. A UMass Lowell/YouGov poll conducted from October 7 to 18 gave Healey 57 percent against Minogue's 29 percent. The most recent data from the University of New Hampshire, collected from October 27 to 31, showed Healey at 55 percent and Minogue at 36 percent.
Minogue enters the race with a financial edge he has used aggressively. SEC documents revealed that Minogue personally gained more than $240 million when Johnson & Johnson purchased Abiomed, the medical device company he led. He has contributed over $17 million to his own campaign. His spending has far exceeded that of the governor.
Healey has faced challenges in her first term. A March MassINC poll found only 39 percent of voters viewed her favorably, while 45 percent viewed her unfavorably. A June Suffolk/Globe poll showed most voters could not name a specific achievement from her administration. The October Suffolk/Globe survey also found that 42 percent of voters believe Massachusetts has gotten worse over the last four years.
Legislative allies have not delivered major wins before the election. A proposed gas tax suspension died in the House. A broad energy cost bill from May 2025 has been stuck in inter-chamber negotiations since July. Housing reform efforts have stalled, with the legislature taking few actions since a 2024 debt measure. The governor's push for new permitting reforms has also faced delays.
Healey's campaign has focused on national politics. The strategy relies on Minogue's past donations to Donald Trump and other Republican causes. A Suffolk/Globe poll found that nearly three-quarters of voters hold an unfavorable view of Trump. One-third of voters cited him as the main reason for the state's economic condition, a similar proportion to those who blamed Healey.
Other state races show similar Democratic advantages. Senator Ed Markey, Attorney General Andrea Campbell, and Treasurer Deborah Goldberg all lead their Republican opponents by 20 points or more. Secretary of the Commonwealth Bill Galvin holds an even larger advantage.
