Republicans Parson and Trump lead challengers in new Missouri poll
President Donald Trump and Missouri Gov. Mike Parson both hold single digit leads over their Democratic opponents, according to a newly released poll.
Parson, a Republican who became governor in 2018, leads Galloway, the Democratic state auditor, 49.7% to 43.7%, according to a survey of 931 likely voters conducted by St. Louis University and British polling firm YouGov.
The survey was weighted based on gender, race, age and education to reflect the Missouri electorate. It has a margin of error of 3.9%.
The poll found that the economy was the most important issue in the contest between Parson and Galloway by a plurality of 23.8% of voters. Economic-focused voters were four times more likely to prefer Parson.
Law and order, which Parson has made the theme of his campaign, was most important to 19.5%, while the COVID-19 pandemic mattered most to 16.9%.
Voters focused on the pandemic favored Galloway by a nearly 13 to 1 ratio, while voters focused on law and order preferred the governor by a roughly 20 to 1 ratio.
Galloway’s campaign said its internal numbers show an even closer contest than the St. Louis University survey, contending that the race falls within the margin of error.
“Governor Parson’s handling of COVID-19 and his record of taking away healthcare from Missourians has become a major liability with voters and led to a jump in support for Auditor Galloway since the spring,” said Galloway spokesman Kevin Donohoe.
Parson’s campaign manager Steele Shippy said in an email voters are responding positively to Parson’s stance on law enforcement issues and “his balanced approach in addressing the COVID-19 crisis.”
Trump leads former Vice President Joe Biden 51.8% to 43.2% in the state, which has gone Republican in every presidential election since 2000.
The online survey was conducted from September 24 to October 7, a period which includes Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis and the candidates’ only debate.
The poll found that Trump’s lead narrowed to 4 points among respondents who voted following the September 29 debate.
St. Louis University initially released poll results for the races in the state’s eight congressional districts. Tuesday afternoon the university announced that it was removing those results from its website because of small sample sizes.
This story was originally published October 13, 2020 at 9:59 AM.
