MISSOURI – There are still many Republican voters who have yet to decide which candidate for governor they will be voting for during Missouri’s August 6 primary. A new poll from Emerson College Polling, The Hill, and Missouri Nexstar indicates 46% of registered voters are undecided.
Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft was the favorite among 23% of those surveyed. Lt. Governor Mike Kehoe came in with 20%, which is within the poll’s margin of error of +/- 3%. A distant third was state senator Bill Eigel with 6%.
Matt Taglia, Emerson College Polling’s senior director, sees the polling data as a sign this is a two-person race between the two statewide office holders. He said Ashcroft has a bigger lead with voters under the age of 60.
“He holds his own among older voters and he’s narrowly winning among Republicans who say that the economy is their top issue,” Taglia said.
Kehoe leads among older voters, according to Taglia.
“These are high likelihood, high propensity voters, so that’s a very good sign for his campaign,” he said.
Following news of the poll, the campaigns for the front runners released statements.
The Kehoe campaign released a statement Friday characterizing the current poll as a positive surge based on previous polling and expects to win over undecided, conservative voters.
Ashcroft’s campaign stated they have yet to spend money on voter contact and expect to expand their lead when they start airing TV and digital ads. They contested Kehoe’s campaign has already spent millions of dollars.
Eigel’s campaign director called public polls worthless. She indicated that if polling was accurate, Hillary Clinton would be president and went on to state that Eigel will be elected governor.
Below is the full breakdown of the poll’s results for the race.
- Undecided – 45.8%
- John (Jay) R. Ashcroft – 22.5%
- Mike Kehoe – 19.6%
- Bill Eigel – 5.9%
- Robert J. Olson – 1.7%
- Chris Wright – 1.4%
- Amber Thomsen – 1.3%
- Darrell L. McClanahan III – 1.3%
- Jeremy Gundel – 0.4%
- Darren L. Grant – 0.1%
The poll also examined anticipated matchups in November, issues that might appear on the ballot, and the issues voters say are important to them.
Emerson College Polling, The Hill, and Nexstar Missouri conducted this poll. Review our methodology and data here.
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