JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — In the race for Missouri’s U.S. Senate seat, a new poll has GOP candidate Josh Hawley taking the lead over incumbent-Senator Claire McCaskill.
The poll, conducted WPA Intelligence on behalf of Club for Growth, has Hawley up by 7 points in what is expected to be a highly competitive and contentious race. WPA Intelligence conducted 501 live telephone interviews (38 percent cell phone) on August 12-14, 2018 for the survey, which has a 4.4 percent margin of error.
Of those surveyed, 48 percent said they would vote for Hawley, 41 percent said they would cast their vote for McCaskill, and 8 percent were undecided.
McCaskill had a higher favorability rate than Hawley at 45 percent to 41 percent, respectively. On the other side, Hawley had a lower unfavorability rate with 36 percent compared to McCaskill’s 49 percent.
“What this polling shows is the tremendous strength of Josh Hawley’s candidacy and his ability to consolidate Republicans, all while Claire McCaskill is losing ground in the middle,” stated CFG Action Missouri strategist Jeff Roe. “Outside groups like CFG Action Missouri are successfully defining the thirty-year reign of Claire McCaskill and driving undecided voters away from her. We’re lucky voters aren’t listening to what the leftist editorial boards write, and instead they are making up their own minds when it comes to who is best suited to represent Missouri.”
To date, CFG Action Missouri has spent more than $2 million on TV and digital ads slamming McCaskill, claiming she puts her own interests above those of Missouri voters.
Polls conducted by other companies have shown the race to be neck-and-neck. A survey conducted by TJP Strategies on behalf of Missouri Scout from August 8-9 polled 1,785 voters, had the two candidates tied with both claiming 47 percent of the vote.
Alisha Shurr was a reporter for The Missouri Times and The Missouri Times Magazine. She joined The Missouri Times in January 2018 after working as a copy editor for her hometown newspaper in Southern Oregon. Alisha is a graduate of Kansas State University.
