BATON ROUGE – As Rep. John Bel Edwards’ triumphant statewide bus tour races to a conclusion this weekend, a newly released poll from the Republican-leaning Triumph Campaigns shows Edwards has pulled even with the GOP front-runner, drawing 30 percent to Sen. David Vitter’s 31 percent. With a little more than three months left to go in the race, John Bel Edwards has closed the gap— despite Vitter’s shadowy financial support and his well-documented abuse of Senate privileges.
For the second time in a week, analysis of new poll data by experts from across the political spectrum tells the same tale: David Vitter’s “inevitability” narrative is a fragile one, and John Bel Edwards is on the rise. As his #PutLouisianaFirst tour returns to Baton Rouge this weekend, his supporters from all across Louisiana have new reason to hope. The big event at the Lyceum Ballroom this Sunday at 2pm serves as a capstone to his success on the road, and the first stop on his road to victory this fall.
“I’ve been with John Bel on the road, and I’ve seen the effect he has on voters first-hand,” said Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, Chairwoman of the Louisiana Democratic Party. “You’re seeing the reality on the ground beginning to be reflected in the polls: the more people get to know John Bel Edwards, the greater his support grows. Vitter’s problem is that with 100 percent name recognition, he has nothing new to tell voters.”
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