NEW ORLEANS — It’s been said that anything can happen in Louisiana politics, and it usually does.
But according to a new WWL-TV poll of 800 voters, two candidates Republican Attorney General Jeff Landry and Democratic former Transportation Secretary Shawn Wilson lead the race for governor by a large margin.
The problem the other candidates are having is really, a lot of it is name recognition,” WWL-TV pollster Ron Faucheux said. “Voters don’t know who they are. They haven’t been moved or particularly impressed by the campaigns they’ve seen.”
In a trial heat, 36 percent of the respondents favored Landry, 26 percent picked Wilson and all the other major candidates were in single digits.
The others Independent Hunter Lundy got 7 percent and four republicans, business lobbyist Stephen Waguespack got 6 percent; Treasurer John Schroder, 4 percent; State Senator Sharon Hewitt from Slidell, 3 percent; and State Representative Richard Nelson from Mandeville, 2 percent.
“I don't think voters have really focused yet on this election,” Faucheux said. “Voters don't seem to be that engaged in this election. And if at some point they do then there may be an opportunity for one of these other candidates to emerge.”
Landry wins the head-to-head matchup beating Wilson by a 54 to 36 percent margin; with 10 percent undecided.
The non-profit Public Affairs Research Council partnered with WWL on the statewide survey along with the Urban League of Louisiana and several other TV stations in the state.
PAR President Stephen Procopio points out, while the other candidates may have their work cut out for them their challenge is not insurmountable.
“We’ve seen plenty of times in Louisiana politics when you’ve had someone who was essentially written off, they came back,” Procopio said. “You look at John Bel, Bobby Jindal to some degree, you look at Roemer, this has happened multiple times where the people that you had ruled out came back and won.”
Personal ratings in the survey also indicated that outside of Landry, the rest of the candidates remain largely unknown statewide.
Landry was judged 50 percent favorable and 28 percent unfavorable, Wilson got 17 percent favorable and 12 percent favorable, Schroder 20 percent favorable and 14 percent unfavorable, Waguespack 19 percent favorable and 14 percent unfavorable, Hewitt 15 percent favorable and 11 percent unfavorable, Lundy 14 percent favorable and 11 percent unfavorable and Nelson got 9 percent favorable and 8 percent unfavorable.
“They have a tough road to not only convince people that they’re good, but also just who they are,” Procopio said. “On the other hand, they have a lot of room for improvement as well. They have a chance to go out there and sell their image.”
Even though there’s still time for the 5 candidates in single digits to make a move, the window of opportunity is closing quickly.
“We haven’t seen what happens to Landry if all the other candidates pile on him and attack him,” Faucheux said. “We don’t know if that pulls votes away from him or not. But it’s getting late to do that.”
The primary election will be held on October 14.
We’ll take a look at more results from our exclusive poll in the coming days.
You can hear from candidates vying to be the next Louisiana governor in a debate on WWL-TV
Join us Thursday, September 7 at 7 p.m., live here on WWL-TV and streaming on our social media platforms.
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