SOUTH DAKOTA
← All Polls

South Dakota Statewide General Election Findings

To:Interested Parties
From:Concord Public Opinion Partners
Re:South Dakota Statewide Survey
Date:

Key Findings

Independent Brian Bengs holds a +1-point lead over Republican Mike Rounds in the Senate race (43% Bengs / 42% Rounds / 10% undecided): Polling conducted by Concord Public Opinion Partners of likely 2026 General Election voters in South Dakota shows Senator Rounds trailing his party's candidates for governor and the House. Rounds leads by +67 points among voters with a favorable view of President Trump (77% / 10%), while Bengs leads by +58 points among voters with an unfavorable view of Trump (71% / 13%).
Rounds' deficit is driven by Republican drop-off: Rounds leads among Republicans by +36 points (61% / 25%), while in the race for Governor Republican Larry Rhoden leads by +47 points (65% / 18%); one in four Republicans backs Bengs, and 35% of Republicans view Rounds unfavorably. Bengs leads Democrats by +58 points (68% / 10%), and only 16% of Democrats have an unfavorable view of him.
Ballot Test for U.S. Senate
Republican incumbent Larry Rhoden holds a +10-point lead over Democrat Dan Ahlers for governor (48% Rhoden / 38% Ahlers / 10% undecided): Four percent choose someone else. Rhoden runs well ahead of the rest of the Republican ticket: his +10-point lead is +11 points better than Rounds' -1-point deficit in the Senate race (42% Rounds / 43% Bengs) and +7 points better than Jackley's +3-point lead for the House (44% / 41%). He also runs ahead of President Trump: his 48% vote share is +4 points above Trump's 44% favorable rating, and his +10-point lead is +20 points better than Trump's -10-point net favorability (44% / 54%).
Ballot Test for Governor
Rounds and President Trump both have negative net favorability ratings (Rounds -4 points, 44% / 48%; Trump -10 points, 44% / 54%): Trump's South Dakota rating is +9 points better than his current national average. Both challengers have positive net favorability ratings: Bengs has a +14-point positive net favorability rating (38% favorable / 24% unfavorable) and Ahlers a +15-point positive rating (37% / 22%); 37% and 41% respectively have no opinion or are neutral.
Favorability: South Dakota Politicians & President Trump

Methodology

This survey was conducted between 10/06–10/08 with a sample size of 400 respondents. Data was collected by contacting likely general election voters via live calls to cell phones and landlines and text-to-web surveys. The margin of error for this survey is ±4.90%. Data was weighted by Race, Age, Gender, College, Party, and Partisanship. Conducted by Concord Public Opinion Partners for Education Reform Now Advocacy. Crosstabs available upon request.