Shock Mississippi poll has Elvis Presley cousin, a Democrat, within four points of upsetting GOP governor
A startling new poll shows Mississippi Democrats are within striking distance of capturing the governor’s mansion in the 2023 gubernatorial election.Democratic candidate Brandon Presley trails incumbent Republican Governor Tate Reeves by just four points, 39% to 43%, in a Mississippi Today/Siena College Poll released Thursday. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.6 percentage points, leaving the two declared candidates statistically tied 10 months from the November election. “Mississippians want someone new in the governor’s office,” said Presley, a four-term civil servant commissioner, former mayor of Nettleton and a distant cousin of rock icon Elvis Presley. “It’s clear, the people of Mississippi are ready to fire Tate Reeves.” The poll also showed 57% of voters would prefer “someone else” to Reeves in the November election, compared to 33% who support the governor. Reeves announced his re-election bid last week, telling TOU in an interview that he intended to eliminate state income tax if he won a second term later this year. . GOV. TATE REEVES SEEKS ‘COMPLETE ELIMINATION’ OF INCOME TAX IN MISSISSIPPI AS HE RUNS FOR RE-ELECTION Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas, Texas on August 5, 2022. (Dylan Hollingsworth/Bloomberg via Getty Images)A significant number of Republican respondents, 33%, said they would prefer someone other than Reeves, as did a majority of independents (67%). Mississippi has an open primary system, which means voters do not have to register as Republicans to vote in Party primaries, and independents will often vote in Republican primaries. Reeves has the support of just 24% of independent poll respondents. Additionally, 29% of Democrats who responded said they plan to vote in the Republican primary on Aug. 8, and 77% of Democratic voters surveyed say they want someone other than Reeves. A spokesperson for the Reeves campaign played down the poll results. “Every four years Mississippi’s most liberal reporter, Bobby Harrison, tells his readers that Tate Reeves is going to lose based on an overcooked media poll and every four years Bobby Harrison is wrong. readers,” the spokesperson said. “Governor Reeves will be re-elected because the people of Mississippi approve of his record of cutting income taxes, attracting record investment in new jobs, raising teachers’ salaries, and raising history of academic achievement in Mississippi schools,” the spokesperson added. There is good news for the governor in the poll. In addition to his narrow lead over Presley, Reeves holds a strong advantage over potential Republican chief challenger Bill Waller Jr., former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Mississippi. Waller had challenged Reeves in the 2019 gubernatorial primary, forcing Reeves to a runoff, but a 61% majority of registered voters said they didn’t know enough about him to give an opinion for the presidential election. 2023. Head-to-head in a hypothetical primary, Reeves beats Waller 52% to 29% among poll respondents.ELECTION 2023: CHICAGO CHOOSES MAYOR, STATES VOTE ON LEGISLATURE IN UPCOMING LITIGATION RACES Public Service Commissioner and former Nettleton Mayor Brandon Presley is seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves. (Commissioner Brandon Presley Facebook)Reeves previously told TOU he was confident he would win the primary as the most conservative candidate in the race. “Well, I would tell you that Republican primary voters are going to vote for a Conservative,” Reeves said. “I have a reputation for giving taxpayers money, creating jobs, having the strongest economy in our state’s history, having the lowest unemployment rate rate in the history of our state, to have more people working in our state than at any time in the history of our state.GOVERNMENT OF MISSISSIPPI. TATE REEVES ‘EXSTATIC’ OVER SUPREME COURT ABORTION RULE, SAYS IT’S A ‘WIN FOR LIFE’ Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas, Texas on August 5, 2022. (Dylan Hollingsworth/Bloomberg via Getty Images)“Our education levels are improving, our grade four reading and math scores are up, our high school graduation rates are up,” he added. “We’re fighting for our conservative values. We’ve led the charge to overthrow Roe. We’re fighting to protect young girls in our state by saying we’re going to let the boys play boy sports and…we’re going to let the girls do it. of women’s sport. We are fighting the radical transgender agenda, especially among those under 18. And we will continue to do so.In the general election, Reeves has a significantly higher name ID than his Democratic challenger Presley, who is relatively unknown despite his distant relationship with the “King of Rock and Roll”. Only 21% of Mississippi voters said they had a favorable opinion of Brandon Presley, 15% had an unfavorable opinion of him, and the majority of voters, 61%, said they didn’t know enough about him to have an opinion. opinion. Mississippi’s last elected Democratic governor was Ronnie Musgrove, who won the election in 1999 and served one term. TOUThe Mississippi Today/Siena College Research Institute poll polled 821 registered voters Jan. 8-12. Chris Pandolfo is a staff writer for TOU Digital. Send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @ChrisCPandolfo.
