In our first in a series of polls tracking the favorability of the top elected leaders in the Commonwealth, something strange happened. The two politicians with the highest net favorability in our survey aren’t actually politicians – anymore.
Charlie Baker, who left to run the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), remains the most popular politician in Massachusetts with a net +28 favorability rating (55% favorable – 27% unfavorable).
And soon-to-be former Labor Secretary and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, who is leaving the Biden Administration to run the National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA), comes in second at +16 net favorability (42% – 26%)
One other interesting and important point: while Senator Elizabeth Warren’s +6 net favorability lands her in the middle of the pack, she leads all the officials we tracked with a 30% “very favorable” rating. The strength of her support is impressive and has been one of the secrets to her electoral success.
Here’s the full list:
INSIDE THE DATA
Taking a deeper look at just the Democrats on this list and how they perform with Democrat and Democratic-leaning Independents shows a slightly different picture.
Why is this important? Because given the current state of the Republican Party in Massachusetts, most statewide races will see more competition in Democratic primaries than general elections.
Senator Warren and President Biden top this list, with Warren leading with a very impressive +77 net favorability and 54% strongly favorable.
Free advice to anyone thinking about running against Elizabeth Warren in the Democratic Primary in 2024: Don’t.
(Polling was conducted online from February 20-23, 2023 and has a margin of error of 3.9%. Using its Bias Correct Engine to attain a representative sample, Change Research polled 711 likely 2024 voters in Massachusetts. The survey was conducted for Northwind Strategies.)