Former Gov. Charlie Baker would beat U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren in a theoretical matchup between the pair during the 2024 Senate contest, according to a poll of likely Bay State voters.

Warren announced in March she will seek a third term in the upper chamber of Congress, where the state’s senior senator has made a name for herself as an outspoken proponent of progressive policies. The former Harvard Law professor ran unsuccessfully in the Democratic presidential primary ahead of 2020, but maintained her seat in the Senate.

Baker, who did not seek re-election at the end of his second term despite routine citation as the most popular governor in the country, is serving as the president of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and has not declared his candidacy for the U.S. Senate or any other political office. He has also routinely denied any talk of him seeking the White House in 2024, citing the impact such a race would have on his family.

If he did run, it would not be good news for Warren, according to polling.

“Senator Warren has significantly higher unfavorable numbers than her fellow Democrats statewide and that seems to be creating an opening for Baker, who always enjoyed large amounts of cross-party appeal. Looking at the cross tabs, Republicans seem to coalesce behind Baker (79%) in a way that Democrats do not around Warren (56%), and Baker leads with independent/unenrolled voters 2-1 at 57-26%,” Paul Craney, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, said with the poll’s release.

The poll, conducted on behalf of MassFiscal via both landline and cell phones on May 6 and 7, asked voters if they would choose the two-term governor or the twice-elected senator despite the fact pollsters said they had no indication Baker might run.

Pollsters also noted they had not polled a Republican primary in Massachusetts and could not speculate on whether the notably moderate Baker stood a chance of winning a partisan election.

“It’s interesting that Baker receives such solid support from Republicans, a group that he began having such trouble with during his second term. Senator Warren may be doing more to unite the state Republican party than anyone might realize,” Craney said.

A spokesman for Baker said the former governor seems to really enjoy his new job and that he will not be a candidate in 2024.

A spokesperson for the MassGOP told the Herald that the polling demonstrates there is room in the state for a moderate Republican to position themselves against a vulnerable Democrat, offering Baker’s Lt. Governor, Karyn Polito, as an example of such a Republican.