FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 28, 2019

Contact: 601-551-1808

Jim Hood Continues to Lead in Polling

Most voters take Hood's side on major issues

JACKSON—Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jim Hood continues to lead his opponent in the race for governor by up to three points and sides with voters on major issues such as keeping rural hospitals open and providing tuition-free community college, according to a poll conducted by Hickman Analytics, Inc., the Hood for Governor campaign announced Wednesday.

Hood leads Tate Reeves 44%-41% among voters who say they definitely will vote and 43%-42% among all likely voters. The poll was conducted during the Republican runoff when the two Republican candidates were advertising heavily and receiving extensive media coverage.

“This poll and the runoff are proof that money can’t hide the fact that voters just don’t like what they’re seeing in our state government,” the Hood campaign said. “Tate Reeves spent 12 times more on television advertising than Jim, yet he’s still behind in the polls. Voters will face a stark choice in November: someone who looks out for himself and his big corporate donors or Jim, who looks out for the people of Mississippi.”

Hood’s popularity continues to outperform Reeves’. In fact, almost as many voters have an unfavorable view of Reeves (34%) as have a favorable one (35%). Among voters who can rate their feelings about both candidates, Hood leads 45%- 41%, and he is ahead 47%-42% among those who have seen ads for both candidates. Hood leads by 44%- 26% among Independents.

75% support expanding Medicaid to help keep rural hospitals open, including 55% who strongly support it. A majority of Republicans (56%) support Medicaid expansion. In addition, 69% support Hood’s proposal to making community college tuition-free, and 76% embrace Hood’s proposal to increase funding for statewide pre-kindergarten and raising teacher salaries.

Technical note: This memo is based on a survey of 600 likely voters in Mississippi. Telephone interviewing was conducted August 11th through 15th, 2019. The sample was selected so all likely voters were equally likely to be contacted, including a sample of cell phone numbers. The results were adjusted slightly to align the sample with known facts about the geographic and demographic composition of Mississippi likely voters. All polls are subject to errors associated with interviewing a sample rather than the entire universe. The estimation error associated with a sample of 600 is +/-4.0 percentage points. In other words, in 95 out of 100 cases, the results of this poll are within 4.0 percentage points (plus or minus) of the results that would have been achieved in interviews with every likely voter in Mississippi. Estimation errors are higher among subgroups of the sample.

###