Gov. Maura Healey speaks at a State House press conference on April 28, 2026. Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll stands behind her. Photo by Ella Adams | State House News Service

As she seeks a second term, Gov. Maura Healey holds comfortable leads over two Republican challengers but voters in a new poll also showed they increasingly believe Massachusetts is on the wrong track.

Pollsters found Healey leading Republican Michael Minogue with a 58-31 percentage point advantage and also outpolling Brian Shortsleeve 59-30. Minogue is pouring money into his campaign and running extensive ads after being endorsed at the state Republican Party convention.

The Polity Research Consulting poll of 608 registered voters was conducted between April 29 and May 7 for the Retailers Association of Massachusetts. The poll’s margin of error was plus or minus four percentage points.

Respondents ranked cost of living issues as their chief concern, including housing, energy, taxes, healthcare and grocery costs. Fifty-three percent said state leaders on Beacon Hill have hurt the effort to make life more affordable in Massachusetts, and more than 50 percent of those surveyed said the state should reduce sales and property taxes.

Sixty-nine percent of respondents said they would definitely or probably vote to approve a ballot question imposing statewide rent control, and 76 percent said they would definitely or probably vote to pass a ballot question cutting the income tax rate from 5 percent to 4 percent. Both of those measures are unpopular with Healey and among members of the Democrat-controlled state Legislature.

Thirty-six percent of respondents said Massachusetts is heading in the right direction with 45 percent saying it’s on the wrong track. The same poll in 2023 found 59 percent of respondents said the state was moving in the right direction, with 29 percent saying it was on the wrong track.

Sixty-eight percent of respondents said the U.S. was on the wrong track, with 24 percent saying it was heading in the right direction.