JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Outsider candidates lead in all four contested statewide Republican primaries, according to a new Remington poll commissioned by MoScout, but most of the races are close.
Eric Greitens holds a seven point lead over John Brunner in the gubernatorial race, followed by former House Speaker Catherine Hanaway and current Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder. Neither Greitens nor Brunner have held elected office. Greitens leads with 29 percent of likely voters, Brunner has 22 percent, Hanaway 16 percent and Kinder trails with 12 percent. Undecided voters account for 21 percent.
Since a poll conducted three weeks ago, Greitens has taken the lead from Brunner while also jumping Hanaway. His support has grown from 17 percent.
In the lieutenant governor primary, former Missouri Club for Growth chairwoman Bev Randles, who has also never held elected office, and Sen. Mike Parson are in a statistical tie. Parson trails Randles by one percentage point, within the poll’s margin of error of three.
While Randles has 24 percent of likely voters to Parson’s 23, 46 percent of voters said they were undecided. Three weeks ago at this time, Randles led by three percentage points, also within the margin of error.
The hotly contested attorney general primary also has an outsider candidate in the lead. University of Missouri professor Josh Hawley leads Sen. Kurt Schaefer 30-28, also within the margin of error. Forty-two percent of voters in this race said they were undecided.
Hawley’s taken the lead from Schaefer over the last three weeks. In June, Schaefer was up 28-21.
Finally, Jay Ashcroft holds a commanding lead over Sen. Will Kraus in the Republican primary for secretary of state. Ashcroft has 48 percent of the vote while Kraus sits at 11 percent and Roi Chinn has 6 percent. Thirty-five percent of voters said they were undecided. Those results are about the same as three weeks ago when Ashcroft held a 49-10 lead over Kraus.
Treasurer candidate Sen. Eric Schmitt is unopposed.
The poll was conducted by Remington over July 7 and July 8, polling 1,022 likely Republican primary voters. It was weighted to match expected turnout demographics.
Voters head to the polls three weeks from Tuesday.
