Press Release: 10/22/2026
Massachusetts Voters Remain Divided on State’s Direction, Continue to Voice Concerns About Economy in Latest UMass Amherst/WCVB Poll
Originally published: 10/22/2026
Topline results and crosstabs for the poll can be found at www.umass.edu/poll
Bay State voters continue to hold dim views of the direction of the commonwealth and of the state’s economy, according to the latest University of Massachusetts Amherst/WCVB Poll. The survey, conducted Oct. 5-12, marks three straight polling cycles—and a full calendar year, dating back to October 2025—in which voters report such opinions on the “state of the state.”
“For the third consecutive poll, more Massachusetts residents believe the commonwealth is on the wrong track (42%) than believe it is moving in the right direction (41%),” says Tatishe Nteta, provost professor of political science at UMass Amherst and director of the poll. “What explains this continued pessimism? Responses about the most important problem facing Massachusetts point to affordability. The most frequently cited words are ‘cost,’ ‘living,’ and ‘housing,’ followed by ‘economy,’ ‘taxes’ and ‘affordability.’ While our polling suggests that concerns about the rising cost of living have not prompted voters to seek new representation on Beacon Hill or in Washington, D.C., the demand for solutions is clear. Addressing the commonwealth’s affordability challenges should be a top priority for elected officials in the aftermath of the upcoming midterm elections.”
Jesse Rhodes, professor of political science at UMass Amherst and co-director of the poll, says that there is a “definite class divide in perceptions” of the direction of the state.
“Only 38% of those with a high school degree or less think the commonwealth is headed in the right direction, compared with 54% of those with postgraduate degrees, and those who earn more than $100k hold a more positive view (46%) than those who earn less than $40k (42%)” Rhodes says. “It’s likely that inflation and the high cost of living, which hit those with lesser means the hardest, explains this class gap in perceptions.”
With the poll’s respondents heavily focused on economic issues, Nteta says it is perhaps unsurprising that they also have dour views of the state’s economy.
“For decades, Massachusetts has benefited from relatively low unemployment, high incomes, an educated workforce, and thriving technology and biotechnology industries, helping to insulate the commonwealth from some of the economic challenges facing the nation,” Nteta says. “However, as the costs of gas, groceries, utilities, and housing continue to rise, residents are increasingly questioning whether the state remains immune from these pressures. Nearly 1 in 4 Massachusetts residents (23%) continue to rate the state’s economy as ‘poor,’ which remains the highest level since the UMass Poll began asking this question in October 2020. With little indication that economic pressures will ease anytime soon, growing pessimism about the commonwealth’s economic future bears watching and is likely to remain a defining issue in Massachusetts politics for years to come.”
Even worse views on the state of the nation
If Massachusetts’ voters currently hold somewhat gloomy views of the commonwealth, their opinions on the state of the nation are exceptionally grim.
“Although Bay State residents are basically split on the direction of the state, they are nearly unified in viewing the nation as headed down the wrong track, with 70% believing this compared with 22% who think it’s headed in the right direction,” Rhodes explains. “When it comes to national politics, Massachusetts residents’ perceptions are undoubtedly colored by their negative views toward President Donald Trump. Trump is deeply unpopular in the commonwealth, so as long as he dominates the national scene Massachusetts residents’ views of the direction of the country are going to be heavily influenced by their attitudes toward him.”
Raymond La Raja, professor of political science at UMass Amherst and co-director of the poll, notes how negatively the poll’s respondents see the U.S. economy.
“Massachusetts voters are now as pessimistic about the national economy as at any point since we began asking in 2020,” La Raja says. “Four in 10 rate it as poor, matching the summer of 2022, when inflation was at its peak. What’s striking is that this gloom isn’t reflected in how people describe their own finances, which have barely moved. Voters are likely reacting to prices, housing costs and the broader national climate rather than to their own bank accounts.”
Voters are overwhelmingly pro-audit
“For the past two years, State Auditor Diana DiZoglio and the Massachusetts Legislature have been engaged in a dispute over the implementation of Question 1, which authorized the state auditor to audit the Legislature. With no resolution in sight, we asked Massachusetts residents whether they continue to support efforts to audit the Legislature,” Nteta explains.
“Nine in 10 believe the state auditor should be able to audit the Legislature—although 42% of them say “with limitations”—while fewer than 1 in 10 say the auditor should not be allowed to do this,” La Raja says. “The real debate among voters isn’t whether the audit should happen, but how far it should go.”
“Forty-two percent support an audit with limitations, and 49% favor an audit without any limitations,” Nteta says. “Whether the two sides will find common ground remains an open question, but the desire for progress on auditing the Legislature remains popular among the state’s electorate.”
“There is a striking generational divide on the audit,” La Raja notes. “Six in 10 voters over 55 want an audit with no limits, compared with fewer than 3 in 10 voters under 30, who prefer an audit with guardrails. Older voters might be driven by frustration with the Legislature, while younger voters appear more open to drawing lines around the scope of an audit.”
Legalized marijuana and topics in the news: Macklemore and the Lindsay Clancy trial
“With Election Day less than two weeks away, Massachusetts voters are once again being asked to weigh in on marijuana policy, this time whether to repeal laws permitting regulated marijuana sales,” Nteta says. “Whether Question 8 will pass remains to be seen, but our polling suggests that legalization has been a largely positive experience for Bay State residents. Majorities view legalization positively for the state’s economy (65%), tax revenue (70%), local communities (56%), and the criminal justice system (52%).
“However,” Nteta continues, “views are less rosy when it comes to the impact on young people, with only a slight plurality (39%) viewing legalization’s effects on young people positively, suggesting that residents recognize some of the potential drawbacks. Given these largely favorable assessments of legalization, supporters of Question 8 face a challenge in convincing voters that the commonwealth should return to a time when recreational marijuana use was illegal.”
Finally, the new UMass Amherst/WCVB Poll explored opinions regarding two recent controversial events: the recording artist Macklemore being prohibited from performing in Gillette Stadium and the trial of Lindsay Clancy, charged with the murder of her three children, which attracted widespread local, national, and international attention and debate before ending in a mistrial when the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict.
“This past summer, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft made national headlines when he was involved in the decision to remove recording artist Macklemore from singer Ed Sheeran’s national tour for Macklemore’s support for Palestinian nationhood and his claims that the artist has made antisemitic statements,” Nteta explains. “While much was made of this controversy on social and mainstream media, missing from this debate were the views of those in the Bay State. While Kraft is one of the more popular figures in the state and a leading national figure in the fight against anti-Semitism, his decision is not viewed positively in Massachusetts as 6 in 10 (62%) believe that Macklemore should have been allowed to play Gillette Stadium this summer.”
These views are consistent with the poll’s findings on Bay State voters’ opinions on Israel and Palestine—half of the respondents say they support the establishment of an independent Palestinian state and 57% support ending military aid to Israel. Less than 1 in 4 voters (23%) express opposition to ending Israel’s military aid, and less than 1 in 5 (18%) oppose the establishment of an independent Palestine in the new poll.
As for the Clancy trial, Nteta says that “With a decision on whether to retry Clancy still pending, we find that a plurality of Massachusetts residents (49%) believe the commonwealth should pursue a second trial, while 1 in 4 (25%) favor dismissing the case.”
“Notably, opinion is divided along generational, class, racial and partisan lines,” Nteta says. “Younger residents, working-class residents, and people of color, along with moderates, conservatives, independents, and Republicans, are more likely to support a second trial than their older, middle-class, progressive, and Democratic counterparts.”
Methodology
For this University of Massachusetts Amherst/WCVB Poll, YouGov interviewed 852 registered voters in the state of Massachusetts. The respondents were then matched down to a sample of 800 to produce the final dataset. The respondents were matched to a sampling frame of registered voters in Massachusetts on gender, age, race and education. The frame was constructed by stratified sampling from the full 2024 Current Population Survey (CPS) sample, restricted to Massachusetts residents who were registered to vote.
Cases were selected by stratified sampling from this subset, with selection within strata by weighted sampling with replacement (using the person weights on the public use file). 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 2024 presidential vote choice as well as gender, age, race and education to produce the final weight.
The margin of error of this poll is 4.2%.
Topline results and crosstabs for the poll can be found at www.umass.edu/poll