NEWPORT, R.I. — A new survey from Salve Regina University’s Pell Center in Newport shows the race for lieutenant governor locked in a dead heat across Rhode Island, but voters in the Bristol and Newport area are leaning clearly toward Republican John Loughlin.
Statewide, Loughlin drew 44% and incumbent Democrat Sabina Matos 43%, a gap inside the poll’s error range. Among voters in the combined Bristol/Newport region, though, Loughlin was ahead by 10 points, 48% to 38%, and only Kent County gave him a stronger showing.
The governor’s race looks different. Democrat Helena Foulkes leads with 39% statewide, ahead of independent Ken Block at 28% and Republican Aaron Guckian at 17%, with 13% still undecided. Area voters gave Foulkes 37%, with Block at 25% and Guckian at 21%, and no other part of the state was as kind to Guckian.
U.S. Sen. Jack Reed was up 53% to 30% on Republican Raymond McKay among area voters, a little tighter than his 23-point statewide lead. Both of the state’s U.S. House incumbents, Gabe Amo and Seth Magaziner, polled at 52% statewide.
The regional numbers rest on a subsample of roughly 106 respondents, so they carry a much wider margin of error than the full results. Embold Research fielded the poll from October 5-8, 2026, reaching 815 likely midterm voters, and the statewide margin of error is ±3.6 percentage points.
The poll was led by Pell Center associate director Katie Sonder and is the seventh round of the center’s Voices of Value project, which tracks political polarization and media habits. In the contest for attorney general, the poll puts Kim Ahern at 52% and Alan Gordon at 34%.
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