Peters/James Race for US Senate shows seven-point spread

LANSING, Mich. – Polling in the US Senate race remains consistent throughout the summer months despite increased spending from both campaigns, according to a recent poll conducted by Marketing Resource Group, LLC. 

In the July poll of 600 likely voters, results showed a seven-point spread with 41 percent supporting Democrat Senator Gary Peters compared to his Republican rival, John James, who has 34 percent support. Results show 12 percent of voters remain undecided in the race.

This spread is similar to the same ballot test released by MRG in June which showed a six-point difference between the two candidates with Peters having 36 percent compared to 30 percent support for James. Eighteen percent of voters polled in June were undecided.

“Polling results have remained consistent in the US Senate race over the past several months,” said Jenell Leonard, owner of MRG, LLC. “The James team has consistently outraised the Peters campaign. As spending increases, there remains an opportunity for James to knock-off the Freshman Senator.”

Peters’ strongest support comes from the City of Detroit and Oakland County and those aged 65 and older. James’ strongest support comes from Northern Lower Michigan and the Upper Peninsula and those between the ages of 50 and 64.

If anyone in the media would like additional numbers or cross tabs, please do not hesitate to contact MRG.

The Questions and Results

The results and the wording of the question asked by MRG follow:

Q. If the election for U.S. Senate were held today, would you vote for [ROTATE] (John James the Republican), (Gary Peters the Democrat), or for someone else?

                                    Vote John James                     29.2 %

                                    Lean John James                     4.3 %  

                                    Vote Gary Peters                     35.8 %

                                    Lean Gary Peters                     4.7 %

                                    Vote someone else                  12.0 %

                                    Lean someone else                  1.5 %  

                                    Won’t Vote                              0.2 %  

                                    Undecided / Don’t Know        12.2 %

                                    Refused                                   0.2 %

MRG, LLC POLL SUMMARY

The +6% Dem survey of 600 likely Michigan voters was conducted by live interview July 19 – July 21, 2020. The sample was randomly drawn from a listed sample of all registered voters with a history of voting and stratified by city and township to reflect voter turnout. Forty percent of the sample was conducted with cell phone users. In addition, quotas for gender and cell phone interviews were met within each geographic area, and extra efforts were made to reach African Americans.

A sample of 600 likely voters in Michigan yields a sampling margin of error of ±4 percent with a 95 percent confidence interval. The sampling margin of error for subgroups may be higher depending on the size of the subgroup.

About Marketing Resource Group

Lansing, Michigan-based Marketing Resource Group (www.mrgmi.com) is an award-winning PR firm representing corporate, association, nonprofit, and private clients with interests in Michigan. MRG offers expertise in public affairs, communications, political campaign management, and public opinion survey research. MRG is the only Michigan public opinion survey research firm that maintains 40 years of trend analyses of voter attitudes related to state and national leaders, political parties, and the political and economic climate in Michigan.