As voters prepare for June 10th elections, a Palmetto Poll finds incumbents have an edge, with Sen. Lindsey Graham far ahead of his Republican primary opponents.
The
report published by Clemson University in South Carolina says that the state is likely to remain red.
Graham is facing six challengers, but at 49% he is 40 points ahead of his nearest competitor Lee Bright. The site says South Carolina law requires primary candidates to win votes from 50 percent plus one to avoid a runoff.
The poll says 46 percent of voters said they would vote to re-elect Graham regardless of who runs against him. That's up from 31 percent last year.
"GOP voters in South Carolina, like those in other parts of the country, seem content to return their incumbent office holders to power," political science professor Dave Woodard told
The Newstand. "Kentucky voters recently turned away a primary challenge to Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Texas voters did the same for incumbent John Cornyn. That appears to be the case in South Carolina as well.”
According to the poll, incumbent Governor Nikki Haley is also likely to hold on to her office in November with 73 percent of those polled saying they would vote for her over only 6 percent for Democratic challenger Vincent Sheheen and 2 percent for independent candidate Tom Ervin.
The university polled 400 Republican voters and 400 Democrats to achieve the findings.
An early look at the 2016 presidential race puts Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in the lead with GOP voters at 22 percent. New Jersey’s Chris Christie came in second at 10 percent, but almost half of those polled said they are undecided at the moment.
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