Lujan Grisham leads in New Mexico governor’s race: poll

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) is leading Republican contender Mark Ronchetti by 5 percentage points in New Mexico’s gubernatorial race, according to a new Emerson College Polling-The Hill survey released on Wednesday.

The poll of likely voters in New Mexico shows Grisham receiving 48 percent support compared to Ronchetti’s 43 percent when respondents were asked who they would vote for if the governor’s race were held today.

Five percent of respondents said they were undecided, while another 3 percent said they would vote for someone else.

Fifty-one percent of those polled in the state said they held a favorable view of Ronchetti, a previous local news meteorologist, compared to 41 percent who said they had an unfavorable view of him.

A slightly higher number of respondents said they held a favorable view of Lujan Grisham at 53 percent, while 46 percent had an unfavorable view of her.

“New Mexico Hispanic voters support Lujan Grisham over Ronchetti by a ten point margin, 50% to 40%; the Governor’s lead decreases to two points among White voters,” said Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling. “In addition, Lujan Grisham holds a 9-point lead among women voters, whereas among men, the gubernatorial election is even, 47% support Lujan Grisham and Ronchetti respectively.”

Still, more respondents — 60 percent — expected the first-term governor to win reelection in November compared to 40 percent who said they expected Ronchetti to win. Kimball noted that given that Ronchetti remains somewhat unknown to undecided voters, both sides could use that to their benefit.

“Of voters that have not yet decided on their vote for Governor, 30% either have no opinion or have never heard of Ronchetti, compared to 6% of Lujan Grisham. This gives both candidates the opportunity to create a narrative around Ronchetti and influence those undecided voters over the next 8 weeks,” Kimball said.

The Emerson College Polling-The Hill survey was conducted between Sept. 8 and Sept. 11 with 1,000 somewhat or very likely voters in the state polled. The margin of error is 3 percentage points.