GOVERNOR’S RACE WIDE OPEN AS LANDRY STRUGGLES

DATE: Friday, May 5, 2023

TO: Interested Parties
FROM: John Rogers, Pollster and Director of Client Strategy
RE: Survey of n620 Likely Primary Voters

Governor’s race wide open with no candidate breaking 30%

• Statewide officeholder Jeff Landry has been on the airwaves and in the news for months, yet
voters are looking for an alternative and Landry has been unable to break through, garnering
only 29% on the ballot with 37% of voters remaining undecided overall.
• Landry has fatal weaknesses with key voter groups in a runoff election (e.g., Landry has a -7 net
image among college-educated voters). Landry’s close ties to Louisiana’s trial lawyers (a group
with a -19 net image) will dog him in a potential runoff election against Shawn Wilson.

Ties to deeply unpopular Jindal will sink Waguespack in a runoff election

• Republicans must unite behind an electable alternative to Landry if the GOP is going to re-take
the Governor’s Mansion.
• But that alternative is not Stephen Waguespack. Aside from his career as a lobbyist insider,
Waguespack’s chief resume bullet point is that he served as a top aide to Bobby Jindal—but
Jindal is an anchor that will sink Waguespack in a runoff election.
• Jindal has -32 net image (26% favorable / 58% unfavorable) and is deeply unpopular with
Independents, with whom he has a -26 net image. Jindal is even underwater among Republican
voters (-7 net image). 54% of voters say they are less likely to vote for Waguespack when they
learn that he was a top aide to Jindal, including 58% of Independents.

Jindal’s image among Louisiana voters

Hewitt has the right message and will rise to the top once voters hear her story
• Of the GOP candidates, Senator Sharon Hewitt can alone appeal to both conservative
Republicans and moderate Independents.
• Hewitt is a strong champion of education reform, and her biography as an engineer-turned-
executive, proven state legislative leader, and mother appeals to Independent voters.
• After voters hear about Hewitt’s background and learn of Landry’s ties to trial lawyers and
Waguespack’s associations with Jindal, Hewitt outpaces Landry on the informed ballot:

METHODOLOGY: This probabilistic survey was conducted April 20 – 21, 2023, with 620 likely primary election
voters. It has a margin of error of ±3.92%. Known registered voters were interviewed via live phones and SMS.
This survey was weighted to a likely primary election voter universe.

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