According to a new poll from Impact Management Group conducted for Y’all Politics, Mississippians approve of Governor Tate Reeves’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic by almost 83%. Entering his 5th month on the job, voters seem to be coalescing around Reeves during the crisis.
The statewide poll of likely voters using live operators was conducted from May 4-7, 2020 gauging public opinion on a variety of topics, including how citizens view the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and the job performance of Governor Tate Reeves and President Donald Trump.
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Overall direction of the State
Over 55% say things in Mississippi are heading in the right direction. 25% believe we are on the wrong track. That compares to 49% right track and 31% wrong track eleven months ago in a similar poll.
Handling of the Pandemic by Trump and Reeves
President Trump and Governor Reeves get high marks in their handling of the coronavirus pandemic, with voters giving favorable marks on crisis leadership to Trump polling at over 67% and Reeves at nearly 83%.
Favorability for Reeves, Hyde-Smith and Espy
Governor Tate Reeves has nearly a 71% favorability rating with U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith close to 55%. Hyde-Smith’s Democrat challenger, Mike Espy, sits at just over 40%.
Mississippi U.S. Senate race
If the election for Mississippi’s U.S. Senate race were held today, Sen. Hyde-Smith would beat Espy and Libertarian Jimmy Edwards easily, drawing over 58% while Espy polled at 31%. Edwards is claiming south of 3% with under 9% undecided.
Job performance for Trump, Reeves and Hyde-Smith
President Donald Trump received a 66.5% approval rating for the job he is doing while Governor Tate Reeves’ job approval is just shy of 83%. U.S. Senator Hyde-Smith received 61%.
COVID-19 threat: Health vs The Economy
Mississippians were almost evenly spread when weighing the health versus economic threats caused by the pandemic, with 47% saying the greater risk was for physical health while 40% pointed to the economic hardship. Just under 43% said government leaders should consider health first while nearly 39% were focused on the economy first.
Reeves Response to Pandemic vs Critics
Nearly 72% agree that Governor Reeves is trying to make decisions to protect physical and economic health, rejecting his critics in the national media. As for whether the Governor’s actions have been too strict or too loose in terms of sheltering in place order or business closures, 35% say the actions were too loose, 27% view them as too strict, and nearly 27% say it has been about right.
Reeves and CARES Act money
When asked if the respondents supported or opposed Governor Reeves’ decision to appoint an outside auditor to oversee the $1.25 billion in CARES Act Coronavirus Relief Funds coming to Mississippi, nearly 74% strongly or somewhat supported Reeves’ decision.
Mail-in voting
No-excuse mail-in voting has been a topic of debate in recent days as the pandemic continues, with Democrats advocating for it being mandatory nationwide in 2020. Nearly 61% of respondents oppose widespread mail-in voting in Mississippi for this November’s General Election.
The full listing of polling questions and results can be viewed below.
Of note, nearly 51% of respondents self-identified as Republicans with another 25.6% identifying as Democrats. That closely mirrors the 2019 gubernatorial election where Tate Reeves won with about 52% of the vote. Fifteen percent said they were Independent. Just under 8.5% said they identified as something else or did not know.
Of those numbers, over 60% considered themselves very or somewhat conservative and 27% reported to be moderate. Only 6.5% viewed themselves as somewhat or very liberal, meaning a majority of self-identified Democrats polled in Mississippi seemingly do not comfortably align with the national narrative on the left.
RELATED – IMG Poll for Y’all Politics in June 2019
The survey, performed by Impact Management Group, was completed by over 600 Mississippians spread evenly across the four Congressional Districts in the state and has a 3.98%+/- margin of error.
IMG May 2020 Poll Slide Deck by yallpolitics on Scribd
Frank Corder
