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Moore American
Give me the odds
Polls show Edmondson fairs better against Stitt for gov.
By Adam Troxtell
American Editor
Two polls released within
the last month suggests
Democratic gubernatorial
candidate Drew Edmond-
son stands a better chance
if Tulsa businessman
Kevin Stitt wins next week’s
Republican runoff against
former Oklahoma City
mayor Mick Cornett.
A poll of 404 people from
across the state conducted
by SoonerPoll asked likely
voters from both parties
O K VO TE S 20 1 8
who they would vote for
if the general election was
today. When asked to
pick between Cornett and
Edmondson, 173 people,
about 42.7 percent, said
they would vote for the
former mayor, compared
to 140, 34.7 percent, who
said they would vote for the
Democrat.
But when asked to choose
between Stitt and Edmond-
son, 163 people, about 40.3
percent, said they would
Proprietàdi OPS News Tracker e membri di Oklahoma Press Association.
vote for the Democrat,
while 158 people, 39.2
percent, said they would
vote for Stitt. That gave Ed-
mondson a lead of just over
1 percentage point, while
the margin of error for the
poll stands at plus or minus
4.88 percent.
The SoonerPoll was
conducted between July
18-20. Another poll from
The Right Strategy Group
Kyle Phillips / The American
conducted between Aug.
Oklahoma gubernatorial candidates Kevin Stitt, left, Mick Cornett, second from right, and
1-2 also has Edmondson
Drew Edmondson, right, talk during a round table forum Aug. 1 during the ACCO Summer
See POLLS Page A3 Safety Conference at Embassy Suites.
 Moore American
and 261 who finished top of
Polls:
From Page A1
Aug performing better against
Stitt than against Cornett.
24 The RSG poll had Ed-
mondson barely ahead of
Cornett, with 39.4 percent
2018 of 737 likely voters over 39.2
percent for the Republican.
Page The undecided group stood
at 21.3 percent.
A003 With Stitt, Edmondson
Clip was ahead 42.4 percent
resized compared to 40.9 percent,
47% with 16.6 percent unde-
cided. The margin of error
From was listed at plus or minus
A001
4.99 percent.
The Edmondson cam-
paign isn’t putting too much
weight into next week’s re-
sult when it comes to strat-
egy, Campaign Manager
Michael Clingman said.
“We’re certainly inter-
ested in who wins, but it
doesn’t make a difference
to us,” he said. “From where
we sit, we don’t see a real
difference. We haven’t done
our own polling on that
question.”
The Cornett campaign’s
internal polling showed
even better results for the
candidate, Communications
Director Will Gattenby said.
In terms of Edmondson
fairing better in a one on
one with Stitt than with
Cornett, Gattenby said
they’ve seen that, too.
“At that time, our in-
ternals were better than
that,” he said. “We’ve seen
the same trend along lines
of the general election
matchup.
“The race is about leader-
ship and who do people
want to have as the next
governor of Oklahoma.
Mick Cornett has a history
of results, and clearly that
resonates with a lot of vot-
ers.”
He said Cornett’s re-
cord on jobs and business
growth at Oklahoma City
should be “attractive to
both sides of the aisle.”
In July, SoonerPoll sug-
Proprietàdi OPS News Tracker e membri di Oklahoma Press Association.
spoke of her battle with
“We’re certainly interested in who wins, but it doesn’t make a difference
to us. From where we sit, we don’t see a real difference.”
Michael Clingman,
campaign manager, Drew Edmondson for Governor
gested Cornett and Stitt
were neck and neck in the
runoff to take place a week
from today, Aug. 28. Two
more recent polls, including
the one from RSG, show
Stitt leading Cornett.
RSG has Stitt ahead 41.3
percent to Cornett’s 32.6
percent, with 26.1 percent
undecided. Similarly, a poll
from Remington Research
Group — which it says was
conducted with 1,757 likely
Republican voters and has
a plus or minus 2.3-point
margin of error — has Stitt
ahead by 10 points, 47 to 37
percent.
The Cornett campaign
wouldn’t comment on the
record about the Reming-
ton Research poll, but it
is understood they have
some issues with it. It’s not
something worrying to the
candidate and they are still
confident of being on the
general election ballot in
November, based on their
own numbers.
Donelle Harder, Stitt
campaign communications
director, noted the date on
the SoonerPoll data and the
subsequent polls that are
more in the Republican’s
favor.
“We feel confident that
we can beat Drew Edmond-
son and that the Republican
party will be united,” Harder
said. “Kevin’s campaign has
been against the political
establishment and elite, and
that will, again, be what he’s
up against in the general
election.”
A deeper look into the
data shows it may not be
as straightforward for Stitt.
When the Remington
poll was broken down by
congressional district, Stitt
performed best in District
1, which covers Tulsa, and
District 2, which covers the
eastern side of the state.
Board of Regents meeting,
Stitt had an 18-point lead
in the Tulsa district.
But in Districts 3, 4 and
5 that include Oklahoma
City, Norman, Moore and
Lawton, the race is much
closer, and Cornett leads
by six points in District
5. More than half of likely
voters Remington polled
were based in those three
districts.
And in the SoonerPoll
breakdown, Stitt’s support
was less pronounced than
Cornett’s in all subcatego-
ries. For example, among
likely conservative voters,
Cornett pulled 130 votes
compared to 36 for Ed-
mondson and 57 undecid-
ed. When asked to choose
between Edmondson and
Stitt, seven fewer conserva-
tive voters chose the Repub-
lican, while Edmondson
gained those votes.
When it came to likely
moderate voters, Ed-
mondson outperformed
both Cornett and Stitt in
SoonerPoll, but Stitt pulled
eight fewer votes compared
to Cornett. Edmondson
gained seven when facing
the Tulsa Republican.
In a similar manner to
the RSG poll, most of those
polled by SoonerPoll were
based in either the rest of
the state, 47.8 percent, or
the Oklahoma City met-
ropolitan statistical area
(MSA), 28.6 percent, while
those from the Tulsa MSA
sat at 23.4 percent.
That data suggests that
while Stitt can pull from a
conservative Republican
crowd, he has a more dif-
ficult time pulling from the
middle and the left.
Harder said she doesn’t
see Stitt’s message as more
polarizing and, instead, is
one that attempts to appeal
to all Oklahomans.
“He wants us to have a
alma mater again, he said.
V
Fro
be
Ci
an
m
top 10 education system,” fo
she said. “He’s beat that M
drum since Day One. This M
is a foundational element to ru
creating new jobs, diversify-
ing our economy and lifting ne
wages. de
“What voters will see in AG
the general is an expansion ch
on how we as a state can m
deliver these core services G
better and efficiently.” cu
When it comes to the de
runoff, however, Stitt’s
campaign has shifted to ch
the right. In a campaign ad,
Stitt touts his own support
for Trump while calling
Cornett a “never Trumper”
and saying his Republican
opponent was a defender of
sanctuary cities for undocu-
mented immigrants.
The Cornett campaign
denied both claims, and
Cornett supporters ad-
dressed the sanctuary city
remark in their own attack
on his opponent in an
advertisement titled “Bull
Stitt.”
But the SoonerPoll data
showing Cornett fairs better
with Democrat voters and
moderates at least adds
weight to the Stitt campaign
charge that his opponent is
not as conservative as him.
Whether that will hurt
Cornett’s chances with Re-
publican voters, or possibly
hurt Stitt should he face
Edmondson in the general
election, will be seen next
week and in the months to
come.
“Voters have been recep-
tive to Mick Cornett’s
messages from the mo-
ment he got into this race,”
Gattenby said. “And they’re
still receptive, and we look
forward to seeing that on
election night. He has a
solid track record at city
hall, and he’s an outsider to
state government who has
seen great success.”