Gov. Jay Nixon (PoliticMo Photo/Blake James)
COLUMBIA, Mo. — It’s early, but Gov. Jay Nixon is polling strong against his Republican challengers ahead of next year’s elections.
Nixon leads Republican-favorite Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder by 19, in the latest poll by Public Policy Polling. The poll all shows candidate Bill Randles, a Kansas City attorney, behind Nixon by 21.
While both of those ratings are bad for Republicans even this far from election day, the poll could be potentially good news for Randles, a relatively unknown candidate who has struggled to get attention from the media and his party.
The poll found Randles less unfavorable to voters than Kinder.
“Republicans can stick with Peter Kinder,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “But at this point he would do just as bad as Kenny Hulshof did in 2008. They’d probably need a different face to really give Jay Nixon a run for his money.”
Mort interestingly, former Sen. Jack Danforth, who announced he endorsed has endorsed Kinder, is the only Republican that polls higher than Nixon, according to PPP.
Nixon’s approval rating is above 50 percent, up from PPP’s last poll in May.
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