A new poll conducted in late July by Market Research Insight, the respected and frequently used polling firm of Verne Kennedy, shows Democrat John Bel Edwards leading among the four major announced candidates with 34 percent. Edwards is currently the lone Dem in the race. More important, the poll shows Republican Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle of Breaux Bridge tied at 21 percent with U.S. Sen. David Vitter, long the frontrunner and widely considered a lock for the fourth floor of the state Capitol.
Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne had 12 percent support in the new MRI poll while an equal number of respondents remain undecided.
The Angelle campaign jumped on the poll results, touting its TV commercials and Angelle’s travels around Louisiana.
The poll is bad news for Vitter, who in a poll conducted in late June by the same firm was at 24 percent to Angelle’s 14, with Dardenne stuck at 12. Edwards led that earlier MRI poll with 30 percent. In effect, Edwards climbed four points, Angelle climbed nine points and Vitter fell three points in a month.
An MRI poll in May had Vitter and Edwards tied at 29 percent, so in the span of two months — from late May to late July — Vitter has fallen eight points in MRI polling.
It’s still probably too early to giddily proclaim, “David Vitter will NOT be the next governor of Louisiana,” but it sure feels good saying it.