{"id":2842,"date":"2026-06-16T10:34:45","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T10:34:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=2842"},"modified":"2026-06-16T10:34:45","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T10:34:45","slug":"many-voters-cant-name-a-signature-achievement-for-healey-suffolk-globe-poll-finds-it-may-not-matter-in-november","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=2842","title":{"rendered":"Many voters can\u2019t name a signature achievement for Healey, Suffolk\/Globe poll finds. It may not matter in November."},"content":{"rendered":"
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More than half of Massachusetts voters said they can\u2019t point to a signature accomplishment Governor Maura Healey has made during her first term. Yet, the Democrat still appears poised to win reelection easily, a new Suffolk University\/Boston Globe poll found.<\/span><\/p>\n

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About 56 percent of the 500 voters surveyed said, if the general election were today, they would vote for, or lean toward, Healey over either of her potential Republican opponents, with the incumbent holding leads of 25 or 27 percentage points over Mike Minogue or Brian Shortsleeve, respectively, according to the poll.<\/span><\/p>\n

The dynamic underscores a race where Healey\u2019s greatest achievement is not a lone standout policy initiative or political win, but \u201csimply [her] not being the other guy,\u201d said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cA 25-point lead without a signature achievement . . . it\u2019s not a referendum on her past, it\u2019s a verdict on the opponents\u2019 future,\u201d said Paleologos. In other words, he said: Being a Democratic incumbent in deep-blue Massachusetts, with an unpopular Republican president in the White House, means Healey can likely override any policy deficiency. <\/span><\/p>\n

The poll found that voters feel less confident that the state is headed in the right direction than it did the year Healey was elected governor. Voters also said they would overwhelmingly opt for US Senator Ed Markey or US Representative Seth Moulton for US Senate over the de facto Republican nominee, John Deaton, a cryptocurrency advocate who ran unsuccessfully for a Senate seat two years ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

Healey, too, enjoyed major advantages among voters, with some saying their support is less about a specific success but rather, their confidence that she is equipped to handle the job.<\/span><\/p>\n

When asked to name Healey\u2019s signature achievement, 17 percent said \u201cnothing\u201d while another 33 percent said that they didn\u2019t know, didn\u2019t have an answer, or refused to say. A smaller percentage pointed to her posture against President Trump (5 percent) orto her addressing the state\u2019s housing crisis or homelessness (6 percent).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI have a few friends that met Maura, who said they trust her to make good decisions,\u201c said Jeff Hacker, a 67-year-old registered Democrat from Lincoln. \u201dBut I don\u2019t know what the hell she\u2019s done.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Gil Swire, a 72-year-old retiree from Stoughton, echoed the sentiment. He said he thinks Healey shows a \u201cconsistent approach\u201d and \u201ca lot more statesmanship\u201d in dealing with issues than, say, Trump. He also said he couldn\u2019t think of an accomplishment that has defined her first term in the corner office.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut,\u201d he said, \u201cshe makes me feel assured that she has a serious grasp of the problems. If there is a shortfall in the budget, she finds ways to close it. If there\u2019s a problem with the federal government, she states what it is and does not back down.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump, at times, has dominated Healey\u2019s reelection pitch. In an address last month to activists during the Massachusetts Democratic Party\u2019s convention in Worcester, Healey framed the governor\u2019s race as a referendum on the president, and herself as the only candidate equipped to stand up to him.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a head-to-head match with Minogue, a former Abiomed executive, Healey earned 56 percent of voters\u2019support, compared to 31 percent for Minogue, a Hamilton Republican, in the new Suffolk\/Globe poll.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Against Shortsleeve, a former MBTA executive, Healey similarly got 56 percent while 29 percent said they would vote or lean toward Shortsleeve, of Barnstable.<\/span><\/p>\n

Healey is also beating Minogue among men, 46 to 41 percent, which bodes poorly for Minogue, who describes himself as a \u201cpro-life\u201d Catholic, and is vulnerable to losing support from women for that reason, said Paleologos, the Suffolk pollster. <\/span><\/p>\n

Minogue runs a nearly $23 million family foundation with his wife, Renee Minogue, that has donated to groups that have touted pro-life stances. That includes Prager University, a conservative media organization whose founder, Dennis Prager, has said most abortions are not moral, as well as the Massachusetts Family Institute, an anti-abortion \u201cpro-family\u201d advocacy group.<\/span><\/p>\n

About 51 percent of people said the state is heading in the right direction. That\u2019s a dip from a Suffolk\/Globe poll right before the 2022 election, when 59 percent felt that way. More than 72 percent said in the latest poll that the country is heading in the wrong direction,the highest number in Suffolk polling since at least 2020.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the US Senate race, voters gave Markey and Moulton similar marks in separate head-to-head matchups against Deaton. <\/span><\/p>\n

The survey found 55 percent of voters would choose Markey, the 79-year-old incumbent, over Deaton if they matched against each other in an election held today. About 54 percent said they would pick Moulton, a 47-year-old Iraq War veteran who has made Markey\u2019s age and seniority a central part of his primary challenge, in his own hypothetical match-up against Deaton in November.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most voters also indicated that a candidate\u2019s age matters little, if at all, in their decision. About 41 percent called it a small factor, and 33 percent said it didn\u2019t matter.<\/span><\/p>\n

That hewed closely to how Democratic primary voters viewed a similar question in an April Suffolk\/Globe poll, when 36 and 32 percent, respectively, said it mattered a little or not at all.<\/span><\/p>\n

In other words, Deaton has \u201can uphill fight\u201d against either Democrat, Paleologos said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBoth [tests] show that the Democratic nominee is poised to win,\u201d he said. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Suffolk\/Globe poll was conducted over five days last week, and its margin of error was plus or minus 4.4 percentage points. Live callers reached respondents via mobile and landline phones.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Anjali Huynh of the Globe staff contributed to this report.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

About 56 percent of the 500 voters surveyed said, if the general election were today, they would vote for, or lean toward, Governor Maura Healey over either of her potential Republican opponents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2841,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nMany voters can\u2019t name a signature achievement for Healey, Suffolk\/Globe poll finds. 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