A new poll on the Republican U.S. Senate primary shows State Treasurer John Fleming leading the field with 28% of the vote, followed by Julia Letlow at 27% and Bill Cassidy at 21%. Emerson College and KLFY-TV conducted the survey and Pearson Cross who teaches political science at ULM says this is an extremely close race with 22% undecided.
“Anybody could emerge in the primary. And also, anybody could be shut out,” Cross noted.
Cross says the poll is bad news for Cassidy, because the two-term incumbent Senator is trailing his two challengers with early voting starting on Saturday. He says in the survey of 500 likely Republican primary voters, nearly half of them have an unfavorable view of Cassidy.
“That’s going to be very tough to come back. Nearly 50% view him unfavorably, so you say, ‘Where is his support going to grow?'” Cross asked.
Cross says only 15% of the respondents have an unfavorable view of Fleming, which is a big factor why he leads this primary.
“Fleming’s benefitting from flying under the radar. I’ve only seen a few attack ads on Fleming, so his numbers aren’t beaten down. Cassidy’s clearly feeling the effects,” Cross said.
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