Haley Stevens narrowly leads Abdul El-Sayed in new Michigan US Senate poll

WASHINGTON- Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Haley Stevens holds a narrow edge over Abdul El-Sayed in a new statewide poll of likely Michigan voters that shows the pair in a statistical toss-up, while state Sen. Mallory McMorrow trails in third place, and a whopping 36% of voters are undecided.

Stevens, a four-term congresswoman from Birmingham, garnered 25% of support from survey respondents, while physician El-Sayed of Ann Arbor came in at 23% and McMorrow of Royal Oak finished 6 percentage points back at 16% among 500 likely voters in the August Democratic primary election.

The Lansing-based polling firm Glengariff Group conducted the survey April 17-19 for the Detroit Regional Chamber. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.

Michigan's Democratic U.S. Senate primary is one of the most competitive contests in the country this year after Sen. Gary Peters opted not to seek reelection to a third, six-year term. The winner of the Aug. 4 primary will likely face former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers of White Lake Township in the November general election, with national Republicans targeting the seat as a top pick-up opportunity.

Among self-described "definite" primary voters, Stevens maintained a 2-point lead over El-Sayed and McMorrow moved up 2 percentage points to nearly 18%, so that the three candidates all finished within 7.4 points of one another, according to the poll results.

El-Sayed did the best among younger voters, drawing 40% of support from those ages 18 to 39 and 34% of those ages 40 to 54. Stevens got the most support among older voters ages 55 to 64 (35%) and over 65 (31%), according to the survey.

McMorrow got her strongest backing from those ages 40 to 64, and pulls almost equally from all democratic groups broken out in the survey ― from Democrats and Democratic Socialists, both college and non-college-educated voters, union and non-union households and Metro Detroit and outstate voters.

Her support among men (19%) is about 5 percentage points ahead of her pull among women.

Stevens finished strong among Metro Detroit voters (30.5%), voters without a college education (30.5%) and Black voters (37%), while El-Sayed saw highest support among outstate voters (27%), male voters (31%) and Democratic Socialists (nearly 43%), according to the survey.

Stevens had the weakest support among outstate voters at just over 10%, with most of her backers living in Wayne (46.5%), Oakland (40%) and Macomb counties (34.5%). El-Sayed is pulling half of the likely Democratic primary voters in southwest Michigan and 27% from the Upper Peninsula and northern Michigan.

El-Sayed, a physician by training who ran for governor in 2018 and previously served as a public health official in Wayne County, enjoys the highest name identification among the survey respondents, at 58%, with 24% favorable, 5.5% unfavorable, and 41% saying they never heard of him. The poll found he's viewed favorably by 25.5% of White voters and 15% of Black voters.

Stevens' name ID came in at 55.7%, with 27.5% favorable, 7% unfavorable and 44% who said they never heard of the Oakland County congresswoman. She's viewed more favorably by traditional Democrats (32.6%) than Democratic Socialists, 16.4% of whom had an unfavorable view of Stevens, according to the survey. She also has high name ID among Black voters, breaking 40% favorable to 3% unfavorable.

McMorrow's name ID was the lowest at nearly 40%, with 19% viewing her favorably and 4.5% unfavorably, and 60% of poll respondents said they had never heard of her. Her name ID in Metro Detroit is higher at 45%, while it falls to 32% outstate. Among voters ages 65 and older, McMorrow's name ID was just 30%.

Rogers, the former seven-term congressman and presumptive GOP nominee, had 87% name ID, which breaks down to 51% favorable to 6.5% unfavorable, according to a separate survey of 500 likely Republican primary voters.

Rogers previously represented a mid-Michigan district that included parts of Oakland County and has higher favorability ratings in Metro Detroit (62%) than out state (44%), according to the poll.

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This story was originally published April 28, 2026 at 12:11 PM.