Missouri Senate candidate Eric Greitens continues to maintain a seven-point lead in the Republican primary despite attacks from the establishment, a Monday Co/Efficient poll found.
Greitens leads by seven points over his nearest challenger, Vicky Hartzler. Eric Schmitt was marked in third place, trailing by 12 points. Twenty-seven percent remain undecided.
The poll also revealed that Greitens leads in important categories, among them: women. Greitens holds a nine-point lead over Hartzler with female voters (29 to 20 percent).
“While a somewhat large block of voters, 27%, remain undecided at this time, most signs point to them siding with the Greitens campaign,” the poll read. “53% of the undecided voters are conservative leaning, a group Greitens is already leading with. And a plurality, 41%, say they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who was endorsed by former President Trump, another subgroup that Greitens performs exceptionally better than his main challengers.”
Greitens, a former Missouri governor, holds the greatest name recognition in the race, with over 50 percent. “All other candidates were over 50% as far as lack of name recognition” goes, the poll explained.
Greitens has remained consistently in the lead during the primary. December polling showed Greitens with the highest approval rating among the primary candidates. A March Trafalgar poll also marked Greitens with a seven-point lead.
The Republican primary has been rife with attacks from the establishment against Greitens. Allegations of misconduct between Greitens and his ex-wife have been leveled in recent months. The accusations suggest Greitens abused his ex-wife and children. Greitens has stated the allegations are “completely fabricated” and “baseless.”
Greitens believes Karl Rove and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) are behind the allegations. Greitens has called their reported involvement in the case an “absurd” smear campaign:
The attacks from the establishment came after Greitens promised to oppose Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) bid for GOP Senate leader. Greitens is among several candidates and current Senators that oppose McConnell’s renewed leadership position.
Throughout McConnell’s leadership, the national debt has grown by over $20 trillion, illegal immigration has continued, and real wages for American workers have remained stagnant since the 1970s. Obamacare was enacted in 2010. Big banks were bailed out following the 2008 recession, and social media companies have silenced individuals without repercussions. Dr. Anthony Fauci has also not been held accountable for allegedly lying twice to Congress.
McConnell has the second-worst favorability rating among GOP senators.
Monday’s poll sampled 806 likely primary election voters from May 2-4 with a +/- 3.48% margin of error. The poll was an internal poll conducted by Greitens’ campaign.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter and Gettr @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.