A poll released by Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Jamie Davis indicates the race against Republican Congresswoman Julia Letlow is closer than anticipated.
According to Public Policy Polling:
- 41% of voters favor Letlow
- 37% favor Davis
- 22% are undecided
Southern University Political Science professor Albert Samuels said the undecided number is even more significant with only a four-point difference between the candidates.
“The fact that over 20-some percent of people are undecided, this may be more of a race than what the Letlow campaign was bargaining for,” said Samuels.
Letlow, who’s raised more than $6 million this year, also has President Donald Trump’s endorsement. Davis, a farmer who’s running a grassroots campaign, has raised just under $ 2 million.
The poll of 518 registered Louisiana voters was conducted July 21-22. That’s before the stories, by Gulf States Newsroom reporter Drew Hawkins, broke about Letlow’s Non-disclosure Agreement with Meta and her stock trades with the media giant.
“That's a serious political problem for her, and she's going to have to answer questions about that,” said Samuels.
He said this race could surprise some people, particularly in a year in which the Republican Party is very unpopular.
“With President Donald Trump’s approval rating in the 30s, there are races around the country that theoretically should not be competitive, where Democrats are not only very competitive, but they actually could win those places,” he said.
Samuels said we’ll have to wait and see if Louisiana could join that list.
