Topline results and crosstabs for the poll can be found at www.umass.edu/poll

A new University of Massachusetts Amherst/WCVB Poll has found that Gov. Maura Healey continues to maintain majority support among Massachusetts voters, although she has seen a significant drop in support among less-educated and lower-income residents.

The poll, conducted Feb. 14-20, found that Healey currently holds a 52% overall approval rating for the job she is doing, while 57% of the survey’s 700 respondents indicated that she has thus far performed “well” during her time as governor.

“In the aftermath of Gov. Healey’s announcement that she will seek reelection, some have suggested that Healey’s popularity may have suffered as the result of her handling of the influx of migrants to the state, the continued housing crunch in the commonwealth, and the purported outmigration of the state’s one-time residents,” says Tatishe Nteta, provost professor of political science at UMass Amherst and director of the poll. “Our results generally suggest otherwise, as a majority of residents in the state approve of Healey’s performance in office and describe the governor in generally favorable terms such as ‘good,’ ‘fair’ and ‘competent.’”

While the approval ratings from most subgroups of respondents remain broadly in line with previous UMass Amherst/WCVB polls, the 37% approval by those with high school educations or less and 40% approval by those earning less than $40,000 per year mark significant decreases from October 2024, when Healey held a 54% approval among those with high school educations or less and a 58% approval among lower income respondents.

Jesse Rhodes, professor of political science at UMass Amherst and co-director of the poll, warns that, “Gov. Healey has a net positive approval rating, but only barely, and her approval has slipped noticeably from previous polls. Her poll numbers have fallen fastest among those with lower incomes and less education. This poll provides a clue as to the reason for her declining popularity – it’s likely that Massachusetts residents, and particularly less affluent residents, are judging Healey in significant part based on economic conditions.

“Given the recent increase in inflation and the persistent high cost of living in the state, it may be no surprise that an increasing share of Massachusetts residents, especially those with lower incomes, are judging her negatively,” Rhodes says. “This should be a flashing red light of warning for her and her top advisors – it appears the governor has some work to do to regain popularity among a subset of voters in the state.”

Indeed, while pluralities responded that Healey has handled most individual issues well, majorities of the survey’s respondents said the governor has not handled the housing crisis (56%) or the situation with migrants, refugees and asylum seekers (52%) well.

“With the state still experiencing housing shortages and skyrocketing rents, it is no surprise that ‘housing’ remains at the top of the list for issues that Bay Staters want Gov. Healey and the Mass State Legislature to attack this year,” Nteta says. “Whether these elected officials can deliver on their promise to make housing in Massachusetts more affordable and accessible is yet to be seen, but failure to do so may result in a disgruntled electorate potentially poised for change in 2026.”

Raymond La Raja, professor of political science at UMass Amherst and co-director of the poll, points to the survey’s respondents’ views on Healey’s campaign promises as another area for improvement as she seeks a second term.

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“Forty percent of the public believes Gov. Healey has kept her promise to be more transparent than past governors, although 29% disagree and 31% say they don’t know,” La Raja says. “Regarding another promise, 36% think she has encouraged more people to live in Massachusetts, with 24% disagreeing and 40% saying they don’t know. Finally, she gets the lowest ranking on her promise to reform the state’s tax laws – just 21% say that she has kept that promise, while 36% say she has not and 43% say they don’t know. If there is comfort for the governor, it is that a lot of voters do not know either way. Her reelection team will want to convince more of these undecided voters that she has kept her promises or continues to pursue them vigorously.”

Looking ahead to Healey’s 2026 reelection campaign, the poll asked respondents about potential opponents including former Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Michael Kennealy, former MBTA Chief Administrator Brian Shortsleeve, Worcester County Sheriff Lew Evangelidis, State Senator Peter Durant and former Republican senate candidate John Deaton.

“As Gov. Healey continues to navigate the challenges associated with the influx of migrants, the housing crisis and rising costs of living, many in the state’s Republican Party believe that the GOP may have a real shot at returning to the corner office at the State House,” Nteta says. “Yet, in hypothetical matchups with each potential Republican challengers, a plurality of residents said they would vote for Healey. While much of the lack of support for these challengers may be due to a lack of name recognition, any Republican facing Healey has a very large hill to climb to become the state’s next governor.”
 

The First Month of the Second Trump Presidency

The latest UMass Amherst/WCVB Poll also asked respondents their views on President Donald Trump and some of the avalanche of executive orders he has issued since taking office for the second time last month.

“In the aftermath of the 2024 presidential election, an election that saw an uptick in votes for Donald Trump and the GOP, some saw this surprising result as evidence of the Bay State’s support for Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda,” Nteta says. “One month into the Trump’s second stint as president, his approval ratings are underwater in the Bay State, with 6 in 10 residents disapproving of Trump’s performance in office. While many presidents enjoy a honeymoon in their first months in office, residents of the state are not affording Trump that same luxury.”

“President Trump polls very poorly in the commonwealth, with only one-third of residents expressing support for his performance in office so far,” Rhodes says. “Massachusetts residents have harsh judgments about the president, with many describing him as ‘evil,’ ‘dangerous’ and ‘fascist.’ Trump has a long history in the public spotlight, so attitudes about him are likely well-ingrained, and it’s safe to say that his presidency so far is doing little to change many of Massachusetts’ residents’ concerns about his character and actions.

“Setting aside partisanship, education provides the starkest divide between Trump supporters and Trump opponents,” Rhodes adds. “Support for Trump is strongest among Massachusetts residents with a high school education or less (37%), and weakest among those with a postgraduate education (19%). This reflects a broader trend of educational polarization in American politics, in which those with less education increasingly favor Republicans while those with advanced degrees pull the lever for Democrats. Polarization by education level reflects many things, but most centrally sharp disagreements over cultural issues like LGBTQ+ rights and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices.”

La Raja explains that “Massachusetts voters have mixed views on President Trump’s executive orders. They most clearly support the release of all records relating to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., with 56% of voters in the state supporting this action. However, a majority of Massachusetts voters oppose (52%) Trump’s executive order to end all DEI programs and policies across the federal government.

“Massachusetts voters are clearly divided on executive orders related to transgender issues,” La Raja says. “For example, 43% support and 43% oppose officially recognizing only two sexes – male and female. The divide is about the same for an executive order that bans the use of federal funds for gender-affirming medical care for minors, as well as another order that bans federal funds from educational programs that allow transgender women and girls to participate in female sports.”

Nteta notes that the poll shows strong support for Massachusetts officials’ attempts to fight these executive orders.

“In the wake of these efforts, state attorneys general across the nation, including the Bay State’s own Andrea Campbell, have sued the Trump administration to halt these efforts,” Nteta says. “Six in 10 residents of the state support Campbell’s lawsuits against the Trump administration and more than 7 in 10 support Gov. Healey, the state legislature and the Massachusetts congressional delegation challenging the Trump administration’s actions if they are deemed as in conflict with state law or the Constitution.”

“During Trump’s last term in office, then-Attorney General Healey repeatedly sued Trump, along with other state attorneys general, to challenge his decisions in many areas of domestic policy,” Rhodes adds. “Many of these suits were successful and checked Trump’s decisions. Current Attorney General Campbell is following in Healey’s footsteps, working with other attorneys general to try to block Trump initiatives that she believes violate the U.S. Constitution or state law. These efforts enjoy strong support from Massachusetts residents.”

Nteta notes that the poll may also show signs of buyer’s remorse among 2024 Trump voters, saying, “In the 2024 presidential election, Donald Trump garnered 36% of the vote in Massachusetts, the most for a Republican candidate for president since Mitt Romney’s 37% in 2012. In the aftermath of Trump’s attempts to increase the power of the presidency and reshape the federal government, we find that Republicans and conservatives are standing by their man, with small numbers expressing support for efforts by Attorney General Andrea Campbell to challenge Trump in the Courts (12% and 15% respectively). However, among 2024 Trump voters, we see greater numbers (22%) who support Campbell’s numerous lawsuits against the president’s executive orders. While still a minority, these voters may be harbinger of a fissure in the Trump coalition in the state.”
 

Methodology

For this University of Massachusetts Amherst/WCVB Poll, YouGov interviewed 733 Massachusetts respondents who were then matched down to a sample of 700 to produce the final dataset. The respondents were matched to a sampling frame on gender, age, race and education. The sampling frame is a politically representative “modeled frame” of Massachusetts adults, based upon the American Community Survey (ACS) public use microdata file, public voter file records, the 2020 Current Population Survey (CPS) Voting and Registration supplements, the 2020 National Election Pool (NEP) exit poll and the 2020 CES surveys, including demographics and 2020 presidential vote.

The matched cases were weighted to the sampling frame using propensity scores. The matched cases and the frame were combined, and a logistic regression was estimated for inclusion in the frame. The propensity score function included age, gender, race/ethnicity, years of education and home ownership. The propensity scores were grouped into deciles of the estimated propensity score in the frame and post-stratified according to these deciles.

The weights were then post-stratified on home ownership, 2020 and 2024 presidential vote choice as well as a four-way stratification of gender, age (4-categories), race (2-categories) and education (4-categories), and a two-way post-stratification on race (4-categories), and education (4-categories), to produce the final weight.

The margin of error of this poll is 4.8%.

Topline results and crosstabs for the poll can be found at www.umass.edu/poll