Attorney General Eric Schmidt leads incumbents by 12 points in the GOP primary race for Missouri’s open Senate seat, according to a new poll. The Emerson College Polling/The Hill survey found the tables have turned in the Republican primary. Schmitt took the lead in the race, receiving 33% of the vote. U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler came in second with 21 percent, and Eric Greitens fell behind with just 16 percent, a 10 percent drop in support from last month. Greitens’ numbers are significantly lower than a June poll conducted by Emerson that found him leading the race among 26 percent of GOP voters, with Schmitt at 20 percent and Hartzler at 16 percent. The poll found that among the three front-runners, likely Republican voters in Missouri had the least favorable opinion of Greitens. It found that 61 percent have a somewhat or very unfavorable view of the former governor, who resigned in 2018 after allegations of sexual assault and campaign fraud. MISSOURI GOP SENATE BRIEF: GREITENS RESISTS CALLS TO RESIGN AFTER POWER ABUSE While Greiten’s numbers are down, 61 percent of Missouri Republicans said they have a somewhat or very favorable view of his opponent Eric Schmidt, the candidate who recently received a prominent endorsement from Arkansas gubernatorial candidate Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Attorney General Eric Schmidt is taking the lead in the Missouri Senate GOP primary. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) According to the poll, 41% of GOP voters said they would be more likely to vote for candidates if former President Donald Trump endorsed them. Emerson College Polling Executive Director Spencer Kimball said a Trump endorsement “could allow Schmitt to secure his lead or provide a last-minute game changer for Greitens if Trump enters the race.” MISSOURI GOP PRIMARY BATTLE: SCHMITT ON ANOTHER CONSERVATIVE ENDORSEMENT In the Democratic primary, the poll found that 39% of likely Democratic voters in Missouri plan to vote for Trudy Bush Valentine in the primary, but nearly 35% support challenger Lucas Coons, with 22% still undecided . GOP Senate primary candidate Eric Greitens is the former governor of Missouri. (Nathan Papes/The Springfield News-Leader via AP, File) The most important issue for Republican voters in Missouri was the economy (57%), down 4% from June. Inflation hit a 40-year high in June, with speculation growing that the economy will soon enter recession, if it hasn’t already. Democratic voters in Missouri believe abortion has overtaken the economy as the number one issue facing the country after the Supreme Court’s decision in June overturned Roe v. Wade, effectively declaring that access to abortion is not a constitutional right for all the Americans and the regulations on the return of abortions to the states. Missouri Democrats ranked abortion as the top issue with 27 percent of the vote, according to the Emerson poll, while only 19 percent of likely Democratic voters said the economy was the most important issue. Anheuser-Busch heiress Trudy Busch Valentine is the most favored Democratic candidate for the Senate seat, according to a poll. (Trudy Busch Valentine via Trudy Busch Valentine Youtube) Among Republican voters, President Joe Biden had a 17 percent approval rating, while 73 percent of Democratic voters in the state expressed approval of his presidency. The president’s national approval rating hit a record low of 31 percent in early July as many Democrats say they don’t want him to seek re-election in 2024. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Incumbent GOP Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., announced last year that he would not seek re-election in 2022, leaving the seat open and vulnerable in the midterm elections. The Missouri primary will be held on August 2, 2022. The Emerson College/The Hill Survey was conducted July 21-23, 2022. The sample consisted of likely Republican and Democratic voters in Missouri, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Aubrie Spady is a college contributor for Fox News Digital.
