While the Missouri Republican gubernatorial primary race is tightening, Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft retains a double-digit lead over the field, according to a new poll memo provided to Newsmax.
Ashcroft (29%) leads GOP Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe (18%) and Missouri State Sen. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Spring (13%), according to a July 14-16 poll conducted by The Tyson Group and provided to Newsmax.
"Jay Ashcroft has faced a relentless onslaught of negative advertising since we began tracking this primary in April 2024, but our latest survey shows he remains the clear frontrunner for the Republican nomination with a double-digit lead over his nearest rival," Ryan Tyson wrote in a memo, analyzing his poll.
"Ashcroft's ballot lead is indicative of the advantage he has on generic name ID. 50% of Missouri's Republican primary electorate has a favorable view of Ashcroft, compared to just 38% for Kehoe. The troubling part for Kehoe is that despite trailing Ashcroft in positive name ID, his negatives are even with Ashcroft.
"Simply put, his attempts to bring Ashcroft's positives down have yet to work."
Political analysis hailed Missouri's gubernatorial race as "safe" Republican, making the GOP primary likely to decide the next governor in this November's general election.
All three candidates are openly backing Trump for the White House. Trump has yet to make any official endorsement in the Aug. 6 GOP primary.
Ashcroft posted a photo Friday with popular Virginia GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin at the Republican National Convention this week.
Incumbent GOP Gov. Mike Parson is term-limited and cannot seek reelection to a second full term in office due to having served more than two years of predecessor Eric Greitens' unexpired term following his resignation in June 2018.
The Tyson Group is a national pollster. It polled 500 likely Republican primary voters July 14-16 and the results have a margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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