This online poll gives Republican Lt. Governor. Tate Reeves leads by 47-40 over Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood. Multiple polls show that the race is closer than ever before. One poll even showed Hood leading. The fact is that the overwhelming majority of those who gave the fiscally conservative and anti-tax Reeves lead in the poll said they would be willing or somewhat willing pay more taxes to help improve public schools and infrastructure in the state. This is because the same poll respondents giving Reeves the largest lead in all polls publicly released suggest they may not be against raising taxes. This is because Reeves has been urging Mississippians for nearly a year that they should not vote in Hood as he is a tax-and-spend liberal. What does it mean that most respondents to the Survey Monkey poll don’t support raising taxes but vote for Reeves? The poll also shows that Reeves’ main issue – his opposition for expanding Medicaid – is not a major concern. However, a majority of respondents (39 percent) would vote for someone who supports Medicaid expansion. 31 percent would be less likely while 29 percent would not care. The best example of why Reeves is leading the poll is the fact that only 10 percent of respondents think the state’s economy is excellent, while 49 percent believe it is fair to good. Reeves has had the support of the outgoing Republican governor for much of this year. Phil Bryant has been running for the office of de facto incumbent. His main message was that the state is moving in the right direction due at least partially to his efforts and that he would continue this progress. He has also made policy proposals. He has spent a lot of time attacking his opponents, including former Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr., and Robert Foster in Republican primaries. Hood was elected in the general election as tax-and-spend liberals. He tried to link his opponents, especially Hood, with national liberals. Hood, Waller, and Foster all argued that the state can do better economically than the rest of the country and is lagging behind the rest in terms of economic vitality and jobs growth. According to 2018 data, the state has the second-lowest work force participation rate. All three also agreed that expanding Medicaid should be considered to provide health care for the working poor, and that more money should go towards education and infrastructure. Jay Hughes, a Lafayette County House Member, is frustrated that his more financially well-funded Republican opponent Delbert Hosemann has been running on the same issues as Hood, Hughes and Hughes. He wants to spend more on education and infrastructure, and even consider expanding Medicaid. The majority of voters believe that more spending is necessary. Chism Strategies conducted quarterly polls for Millsaps College. Nearly 68 percent of respondents said that spending on education is too low, and 78.5 percent stated that the state’s infrastructure spending is not sufficient. Reeves has been able to spend the additional money for eight years. Chism is seen as a Democratic pollster, who has worked for Hood on occasion, but the company is not Hood’s regular pollster. The latest Millsaps poll released in September showed that 33% of respondents believed the state was heading in the right direction, while 36% thought it was headed in the wrong. These numbers are the worst since Chism began their polling partnership in 2017 with Millsaps. It’s confusing. What does this mean for Tuesday’s elections? Mississippi is clearly a Republican-leaning state. This alone gives Reeves an advantage. Hood is the only Democrat to hold one of the eight statewide office posts. It seems that the public may agree with Hood on some issues. Waller, who ran late against Reeves and had been planning for this campaign for at least four year, forced Hood to run for a second term on the exact same issues. Reeves tried to persuade voters to not trust Hood, regardless of their feelings about the issues. According to polling, this may not be Hood’s best route to victory. View our #MSElex Voter Guide for more information about all candidates for state office.