Connect with us

Mississippi Today

Poll shows Mississippians strongly favor Presley’s ideas but he still trails in governor’s race

Published

on

A new Siena College/Mississippi Today poll, conducted April 16-20, illustrates the complexity and internal conflict of the state’s electorate.

Take, for instance, one of the biggest issues of the 2023 governor’s race: Medicaid expansion. Based on the poll results, 55% of respondents say they “will only vote for a candidate” who supports expanding Medicaid. A meager 14% say they would only vote for a candidate opposed to Medicaid expansion.

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves has made it clear that he staunchly opposes Medicaid expansion, which he refers to as Obamacare. Meanwhile, Northern District Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley, a Democrat who is challenging Reeves in November, has built much of his campaign around his support of expanding Medicaid to provide health care coverage to primarily the working poor.

But the same poll respondents who say by a strong majority they would only vote for a candidate supporting Medicaid expansion give incumbent Reeves a commanding 49% to 38% lead over Presley. It is important to understand that Siena did not just call a random group of people — 783 on cell phones and landlines — to garner these responses. This is a scientific poll that is weighted to match the likely demographics of voters in the November general election and in theory represents a snapshot of what the electorate is thinking.

And Siena is a good pollster, rated the best public pollster in America recently by the FiveThirtyEight blog, which breaks down and analyzes data.

READ MORE: Governor’s race poll: Brandon Presley slips, Gov. Tate Reeves remains unpopular

But there are conflicts in the Siena poll. Pollsters ask direct questions of whether a candidate’s position on an issue would impact their votes. Though time and again respondents’ answers were bad for Reeves, he is leading comfortably against Presley in the head-to-head race.

For instance, 58% say they “will only vote for a candidate that supports fully funding public education in Mississippi through the Mississippi Adequate Education Program or MAEP.” MAEP is the program that provides the state’s share of the needs for public schools.

Hardly no one, just 5%, said they would only vote for a candidate who opposes full funding of the Adequate Education Program. Reeves not only opposes MAEP, but tried to eliminate it.

The list goes on.

For instance, 58% say they would only vote for a candidate who supports eliminating Mississippi’s highest in the nation state-imposed grocery tax, while 7% say they would only vote for a candidate opposed to eliminating the tax.

On the other hand, less than a majority — 45% — say they would only vote for a candidate who supports eliminating the income tax while 17% would only vote for a candidate opposed to the income tax elimination.

Presley is campaigning on the more politically popular elimination of the grocery tax.

Reeves, on the other hand, has been an outspoken advocate for the less politically popular, according to the poll, elimination of the income tax.

The issue of transgender rights is shaping up as possibly another key issue. Top Mississippi Republicans have already tried to link Presley this year to national Democrats on the issue.

But according to the poll, it is not a winning issue. Just 35% said they would only vote for a candidate who supports “maintaining the ban on gender affirming care for transgender youth,” while a near even 31% would only vote for a candidate opposed to maintaining the ban.

On another issue, 35% say they would only vote for a candidate who supports restoring the initiative to allow voters to gather signatures to bypass the Legislature and place issues on the ballot, while 7% say they would only vote for a candidate opposing the process.

Both Reeves and Presley say they support restoring the ballot initiative that was ruled invalid by the Supreme Court on a technicality in 2021. Presley, though, has been challenging Reeves to call a special session for legislators to restore the process.

Like other polls, this most recent one strongly indicates that Presley is winning on key issues. Still, according to Siena and other surveys, Presley would lose if the election was held this month.

Mississippi is a Republican state. Many Mississippians solely vote Republican or at least weigh all the issues and determine the overall beliefs of the Republicans are what they support despite what they might tell a pollster.

Remember, Mississippi has not elected a Democratic governor or lieutenant governor since 1999.

Presley’s chore — and it is a hard one — is to convince Mississippians that the issues are more important than party labels. Reeves’ chore — a much easier one — is to remind a majority of Mississippians they do not like Democrats.

The Mississippi Today/Siena College Research Institute poll of 783 registered voters was conducted April 16-20 and has an overall margin of error of +/- 4.3 percentage points. Siena has an ‘A’ rating in FiveThirtyEight’s analysis of pollsters.

Click here for complete methodology and crosstabs relevant to this story.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.biloxinewsevents.com/?p=238037

Mississippi Today

Mississippians are asked to vote more often than people in most other states

Published

on

Mississippians are asked to vote more often than people in most other states

mississippitoday.org – @BobbyHarrison9 – 2025-04-20 06:00:00

Not long after many Mississippi families celebrate Easter, they will be returning to the polls to vote in municipal party runoff elections.

The party runoff is April 22.

A year does not pass when there is not a significant election in the state. Mississippians have the opportunity to go to the polls more than voters in most — if not all — states.

In Mississippi, do not worry if your candidate loses because odds are it will not be long before you get to pick another candidate and vote in another election.

Mississippians go to the polls so much because it is one of only five states nationwide where the elections for governor and other statewide and local offices are held in odd years. In Mississippi, Kentucky and Louisiana, the election for governor and other statewide posts are held the year after the federal midterm elections. For those who might be confused by all the election lingo, the federal midterms are the elections held two years after the presidential election. All 435 members of the U.S. House and one-third of the membership of the U.S. Senate are up for election during every midterm. In Mississippi, there also are important judicial elections that coincide with the federal midterms.

Then the following year after the midterms, Mississippians are asked to go back to the polls to elect a governor, the seven other statewide offices and various other local and district posts.

Two states — Virginia and New Jersey — are electing governors and other state and local officials this year, the year after the presidential election.

The elections in New Jersey and Virginia are normally viewed as a bellwether of how the incumbent president is doing since they are the first statewide elections after the presidential election that was held the previous year. The elections in Virginia and New Jersey, for example, were viewed as a bad omen in 2021 for then-President Joe Biden and the Democrats since the Republican in the swing state of Virginia won the Governor’s Mansion and the Democrats won a closer-than-expected election for governor in the blue state of New Jersey.

With the exception of Mississippi, Louisiana, Kentucky, Virginia and New Jersey, all other states elect most of their state officials such as governor, legislators and local officials during even years — either to coincide with the federal midterms or the presidential elections.

And in Mississippi, to ensure that the democratic process is never too far out of sight and mind, most of the state’s roughly 300 municipalities hold elections in the other odd year of the four-year election cycle — this year.

The municipal election impacts many though not all Mississippians. Country dwellers will have no reason to go to the polls this year except for a few special elections. But in most Mississippi municipalities, the offices for mayor and city council/board of aldermen are up for election this year.

Jackson, the state’s largest and capital city, has perhaps the most high profile runoff election in which state Sen. John Horhn is challenging incumbent Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba in the Democratic primary.

Mississippi has been electing its governors in odd years for a long time. The 1890 Mississippi Constitution set the election for governor for 1895 and “every four years thereafter.”

There is an argument that the constant elections in Mississippi wears out voters, creating apathy resulting in lower voter turnout compared to some other states.

Turnout in presidential elections is normally lower in Mississippi than the nation as a whole. In 2024, despite the strong support for Republican Donald Trump in the state, 57.5% of registered voters went to the polls in Mississippi compared to the national average of 64%, according to the United States Elections Project.

In addition, Mississippi Today political reporter Taylor Vance theorizes that the odd year elections for state and local officials prolonged the political control for Mississippi Democrats. By 1948, Mississippians had started to vote for a candidate other than the Democrat for president. Mississippians began to vote for other candidates — first third party candidates and then Republicans — because of the national Democratic Party’s support of civil rights.

But because state elections were in odd years, it was easier for Mississippi Democrats to distance themselves from the national Democrats who were not on the ballot and win in state and local races.

In the modern Mississippi political environment, though, Republicans win most years — odd or even, state or federal elections. But Democrats will fare better this year in municipal elections than they do in most other contests in Mississippi, where the elections come fast and often.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Continue Reading

Mississippi Today

On this day in 1977, Alex Haley awarded Pulitzer for ‘Roots’

Published

on

On this day in 1977, Alex Haley awarded Pulitzer for 'Roots'

mississippitoday.org – @MSTODAYnews – 2025-04-19 07:00:00

April 19, 1977

Alex Haley was awarded a special Pulitzer Prize for “Roots,” which was also adapted for television. 

Network executives worried that the depiction of the brutality of the slave experience might scare away viewers. Instead, 130 million Americans watched the epic miniseries, which meant that 85% of U.S. households watched the program. 

The miniseries received 36 Emmy nominations and won nine. In 2016, the History Channel, Lifetime and A&E remade the miniseries, which won critical acclaim and received eight Emmy nominations.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Continue Reading

Mississippi Today

Speaker White wants Christmas tree projects bill included in special legislative session

Published

on

Speaker White wants Christmas tree projects bill included in special legislative session

mississippitoday.org – @MSTODAYnews – 2025-04-18 10:38:00

House Speaker Jason White sent a terse letter to Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann on Thursday, saying House leaders are frustrated with Senate leaders refusing to discuss a “Christmas tree” bill spending millions on special projects across the state. 

The letter signals the two Republican leaders remain far apart on setting an overall $7 billion state budget. Bickering between the GOP leaders led to a stalemate and lawmakers ending their regular 2025 session without setting a budget. Gov. Tate Reeves plans to call them back into special session before the new budget year starts July 1 to avoid a shutdown, but wants them to have a budget mostly worked out before he does so.

White’s letter to Hosemann, which contains words in all capital letters that are underlined and italicized, said that the House wants to spend cash reserves on projects for state agencies, local communities, universities, colleges, and the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

“We believe the Senate position to NOT fund any local infrastructure projects is unreasonable,” White wrote. 

The speaker in his letter noted that he and Hosemann had a meeting with the governor on Tuesday. Reeves, according to the letter, advised the two legislative leaders that if they couldn’t reach an agreement on how to disburse the surplus money, referred to as capital expense money, they should not spend any of it on infrastructure. 

A spokesperson for Hosemann said the lieutenant governor has not yet reviewed the letter, and he was out of the office on Thursday working with a state agency. 

“He is attending Good Friday services today, and will address any correspondence after the celebration of Easter,” the spokesperson said. 

READ MORE: Mississippi lawmakers end 2025 session unable to agree (or even meet about) state budget: Legislative recap

Hosemann has recently said the Legislature should set an austere budget in light of federal spending cuts coming from the Trump administration, and because state lawmakers this year passed a measure to eliminate the state income tax, the source of nearly a third of the state’s operating revenue.

Lawmakers spend capital expense money for multiple purposes, but the bulk of it — typically $200 million to $400 million a year — goes toward local projects, known as the Christmas Tree bill. Lawmakers jockey for a share of the spending for their home districts, in a process that has been called a political spoils system — areas with the most powerful lawmakers often get the largest share, not areas with the most needs. Legislative leaders often use the projects bill as either a carrot or stick to garner votes from rank and file legislators on other issues. 

A Mississippi Today investigation last year revealed House Ways and Means Chairman Trey Lamar, a Republican from Sentobia, has steered tens of millions of dollars in Christmas tree spending to his district, including money to rebuild a road that runs by his north Mississippi home, renovate a nearby private country club golf course and to rebuild a tiny cul-de-sac that runs by a home he has in Jackson.

There is little oversight on how these funds are spent, and there is no requirement that lawmakers disburse the money in an equal manner or based on communities’ needs. 

In the past, lawmakers borrowed money for Christmas tree bills. But state coffers have been full in recent years largely from federal pandemic aid spending, so the state has been spending its excess cash. White in his letter said the state has “ample funds” for a special projects bill.

“We, in the House, would like to sit down and have an agreement with our Senate counterparts on state agency Capital Expenditure spending AND local projects spending,” White wrote. “It is extremely important to our agencies and local governments. The ball is in your court, and the House awaits your response.”

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Continue Reading

Trending