Little Rock, Arkansas – Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders holds a wider lead in Arkansas’s governor’s race than she did in August, according to a new Talk Business and Politics-Hendrix College Poll released Sunday.
The survey found 51% of likely voters supporting Sanders, compared with 32% for Arkansas Sen. Fred Love and 11.2% for Libertarian candidate Colt Shelby. Another 6% were undecided.
Researchers surveyed 709 likely voters between October 8 and October 13. The findings offer a snapshot of voter preferences shortly before early voting begins Monday, October 19, ahead of the November 3 election.
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The results show a change from the same polling partnership’s August survey. At that time, Sanders had 45% support, Love had 40%, and Shelby had 7%. Undecided voters accounted for 8%.
Sanders’ reported support rose by six percentage points between the two surveys, while Love’s fell by eight points. Her advantage over Love consequently grew from five points in August to 19 points in the latest poll.
Shelby also gained support, moving from 7% to 11.2%. The share of respondents who had not chosen a candidate declined by two percentage points.
Campaign finances provide another measure of the differences between the candidates. According to figures cited by KARK from the Arkansas Secretary of State’s disclosure website, Sanders reported $7.98 million raised and $6.21 million in expenditures. More than $1 million went toward television advertising.
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Love reported raising slightly more than $237,000, while Shelby reported $40,123. Those totals show a substantial fundraising gap between Sanders and her opponents.
However, the figures presented do not establish how much advertising or other campaign expenses influenced respondents’ choices.
The latest survey gives Sanders a larger polling advantage as voting gets underway, but it does not determine the election’s outcome. Arkansas voters will make that decision through early voting and on Election Day, November 3.
