A just-completed Impact Management Poll showed Mississippi’s stalwart conservative Lieutenant Governor Tate Reeves in a commanding position to win both the Republican primary and general election for governor of the Magnolia State this year.
In one of the three states electing governors in 2019, Reeves, a former state treasurer, was thought to be facing a stiff challenge for nomination from Chief Justice William Waller, Jr.
Morever, both Reeves and Waller were considered vulnerable to the man half-jokingly referred to as “the only white Democrat office-holder left in the Deep South”— four-term State Attorney General Jim Hood, prosecutor of white supremacists as well as major corporations, and the only Democratic statewide office holder in Mississippi.
But Impact Management Poll, a product of “Y’All Politics,” showed Reeves clobbering Waller, namesake son of former Democratic Gov. (1971-75) William Waller by 50 percent to 19.48 percent.
Another 8.82 percent favored longshot hopeful state Rep. Robert Foster, the poll showed.
The Republican primary is Aug. 6.
“Most of us don’t really care who Bill Waller’s Daddy was,” one active Mississippi College Republican told Newsmax, “Tate has a record as an innovative state treasurer and he’s the real deal — conservative.”
In a general election, Impact Management found Reeves handily led Hood by 48 to 35.78 percent, with 4.03 going to Independent candidate and hotelier David Singletary who favors legalizing marijuana.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.