New U.S. Senate poll in Missouri places Schmitt on top; Greitens distant third

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A poll conducted by the Tarrance Group has provided some interesting results. Notably, the poll shows Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt in the lead, garnering 28% of the respondents’ vote.

The most surprising finding, however, is how poorly embattled former Gov. Eric Greitens performed. Greitens scored just 16% of the vote, a far-cry from the 20-plus% most other polls have found.

The Tarrance Group is known as a reputable pollster, garnering a B+ rating from FiveThirtyEight.

However, these results should be taken with a grain of salt. The poll was commissioned by the Show Me Values PAC, a Super-PAC that is well known to be anti-Greitens. Furthermore, the relatively small sample size of the poll, just 600 likely Republican voters, could have skewed the results.

Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler is within four points of Schmitt, sitting at 24% of the vote. In context with the polls’ margin of error of 4%, Schmitt and Hartzler are essentially tied at the top.

57% percent of poll respondents were found to have a positive rating of Schmitt, with 17% of respondents holding an unfavorable rating of him. Hartzler’s results were very similar, with a 53% positive rating and 14% unfavorable rating.

Greitens differs from his competition in this regard. Just 38% of respondents had a favorable rating towards the former Navy Seal, with 49% of respondents rating Greitens unfavorably.

The drama surrounding Greitens has only increased in recent weeks, with the airing of his now infamous “RINO hunting” ad campaign and more details about his alleged domestic and child abuse scandal coming to light.

This poll continues a string of strong polling performances for Hartzler, building on her performance in a recent Trafalgar poll.

No other Republican Senate candidate scored above 10% of the vote, with 18% of respondents remaining undecided.