Healthcare, Economy, Crime Top Concerns for New Mexico Primary Voters
A new Emerson College Polling/KRQE News 13 poll of the Democratic Primary for Governor finds former United States Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland leading Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman, 40% to 24%, while 36% are undecided.
“Deb Haaland holds plurality support headed into the June Primary for Governor, driven by a 24-point advantage among women, leading Bregman 42% to 18% and a 30-point lead among voters with college degrees, leading 53% to 23%,” Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, said. “Men break for Haaland by a narrower margin: 38% support Haaland and 31% Bregman, and voters without a college degree are split: 28% support Haaland and 25% Bregman.”
Registered Democrats break for Haaland, 48% to 23%, while independent voters participating in the Democratic Primary break for Bregman, 28% to 17%; a majority of independents are undecided (56%).
In the Republican Primary for Governor, 21% support Rio Rancho Mayor Greggory Hull, 10% former New Mexico cabinet secretary and cannabis CEO Duke Rodriguez, and 9% former New Mexico Judicial Standards Commission Chair Doug Turner. A majority of voters (61%) are undecided.
Healthcare and the economy are the top issues for New Mexico likely primary voters, at 23% respectively, followed by crime (17%), education (12%), housing affordability (9%), threats to democracy (7%), and immigration (5%).
Healthcare is the top issue for both Democrats (29%) and Republicans (21%), while the economy is the top issue for independents at 23%, followed by education and healthcare at 15%, respectively.
One in two likely voters (50%) say they feel less safe today than they did one year ago, 13% feel more safe, and 37% report no difference.
President Trump holds a 37% approval rating among likely primary voters, while 56% disapprove of the job he is doing in office. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham holds a 40% approval rating, while 42% disapprove of the job she is doing.
Nearly half of voters (49%) disapprove of the job Governor Lujan Grisham is doing running the Children Youth and Families Department (CYFD), while 18% approve, and 28% are neutral.
A plurality of voters (46%) would vote yes on a constitutional amendment revoking the governor’s power to appoint the head of the CYFD, while 22% would vote no, and 32% are not sure.
Methodology
The Emerson College Polling New Mexico survey was conducted April 18-19, 2026. The sample of New Mexico likely primary voters, n=1,000, has a credibility interval, similar to a poll’s margin of error (MOE), of +/- 3 percent. The Democratic Primary consists of n=564 likely primary voters with a credibility interval of +/-4.1%. The Republican Primary consists of n=436 likely primary voters with a credibility interval of +/-4.7%
The data sets were weighted by gender, education, race, age, party registration, and region based on U.S. Census parameters and voter file data.
It is important to remember that subsets based on demographics, such as gender, age, education, and race/ethnicity, carry with them higher credibility intervals, as the sample size is reduced. Survey results should be understood within the poll’s range of scores, and with a confidence interval of 95% a poll will fall outside the range of scores 1 in 20 times.
Data was collected by contacting registered voters from a voter file provided by Aristotle using email and MMS text-to-web; and panel interviews provided by PureSpectrum. The survey was hosted on QuestionPro. All respondents were recruited using customized links that prevent responses from anyone outside of the poll’s sample frame. Panel responses were matched to the Aristotle voter file using respondents’ full name and ZIP code. The survey was offered in English.
All questions asked in this survey with exact wording and order, along with full results, demographics, and cross tabulations can be found below. The survey was sponsored by KRQE News 13 of Nexstar Media Group.
