Bentley, Ivey, McKinney, Beeker, Oden, Zeigler lead; heavy undecided down-ballot
A poll conducted this week by Cygnal, a Montgomery-based political strategy, media, and public relations firm, indicates the Republican race for Governor is a lock for incumbent Robert Bentley. Lt. Governor Ivey is leading her challenger but below the 50% mark. Reese McKinney leads a tight pack of three for Secretary of State. In the Public Service Commission races, Chip Beeker and Jeremy Oden are ahead, but nearly 60% of voters are still undecided. Perennial candidate Jim Zeigler is the frontrunner to be the next state auditor.
The phone survey was conducted on May 19-20 with 1,327 known Republican primary voters, giving the flash poll a margin of error of +/- 2.9%. Cygnal is unaffiliated with any of the campaigns polled.
“The results of Cygnal’s flash poll prove that outside of Governor and Lt. Governor, very few Republican primary voters know about the down-ballot statewide candidates,” said Managing Partner Brent Buchanan. “It will be interesting to watch what the non-gubernatorial candidates do to engage and educate voters these last 13 days.”
“We have conducted hundreds of flash polls across the country these last two years, but it’s always fun to survey your home state,” said VP of Data & Strategy Cory Brown. “When given the option of choosing undecided on some of these races, voters are expressing they feel little to no connection to the campaigns further down the ballot.”
Two issue questions were also included in the flash poll regarding their opinion of the state legislature and voters’ connection with Tea Party views. 57.4% of Republican primary voters have a favorable opinion of the legislature, but only 12.9% is very favorable. Among those surveyed, 15.8% agree with 100 percent of the Tea Party’s views, 42.2% feel they share most of the Tea Party’s views, and 42.1% share some or none.
A polling memo, toplines of the flash poll, and a PDF presentation are available on the Cygnal website.