x
Breaking News
More () »

EXCLUSIVE WTHR/HPI Poll: Gregg holds small lead on Holcomb

Gregg has a strong lead with women and minorities while Holcomb has an advantage with older male voters. Both candidates struggled with name recognition.
John Gregg and Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb

INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) - The results from a new statewide poll show a very tight race between John Gregg and Eric Holcomb.

The WTHR/HPI Indiana Poll has Gregg with a 40% to 35% lead over Lieutenant Governor Holcomb.

Libertarian Rex Bell follows with 6% of the vote and 19% are either undecided, didn't answer, or said they will not cast a vote for governor.

The race is very tight with white voters and men. Gregg has a strong lead with women and minorities while Holcomb has an advantage with older male voters.

Both struggled with name recognition. The poll results show 44% of Hoosiers have not heard of Holcomb, while 31% said they have not heard of Gregg.

Gregg's name recognition is actually a 23-point improvement over where he was in the last WTHR/HPI Indiana Poll from April where 54% of voters said they have not heard of him. April data on Holcomb is not available since he was not running for governor in the May primary.

In addition to the name recognition gap, Holcomb is also battling a favorability deficit. Gregg's +14% favorability rating tops Holcomb's +3% rating.

The demographic favorability breakdown shows a strong correlation to the voting trends with Gregg having strong favorable scores with women and minorities and Holcomb with a slight edge in older male voters.

The outcome doesn't change much if voters are asked just about the economic potential of the two front-runners.

Gregg's economic policy was favored by 37% compared to 30% for Gregg.

The difference of opinion was mostly split along party lines although Gregg did receive support of 12% of GOP voters on his economic impact.

Younger voters were most likely to be undecided on which candidate they preferred. 47% of 18-34 year olds did not pick a side when asked to pick a candidate.

WTHR commissioned the poll with Howey Politics Indiana. The Public Opinion Strategies poll surveyed 600 likely voters in the state from September 6-8. It has a four-point margin of error.

Before You Leave, Check This Out