Poll: Trump, Clinton lead in Missouri; 53% want taxes raised on top-income earners

Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump hold narrow leads among Missouri voters heading into Tuesday’s presidential primary, according to a statewide poll released Friday.

Trump leads 36 percent to 29 percent for U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio is the choice of 9 percent of those voters who plan to vote in the Republican contest, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich is preferred by 8 percent.

About 17 percent of those planning to cast Republican ballots say they still are undecided, according to the poll conducted for the Southeast Missourian and nine other newspapers.

On the Democratic side, Clinton leads avowed democratic socialist Bernie Sanders, 47 percent to 40 percent, with 13 percent undecided.

A plurality of Missouri voters said they would vote for Rubio or Cruz in a contest with Clinton or Sanders. Voters said they favor Rubio over Sanders, 43 percent to 37 percent; and Rubio over Clinton, 49 percent to 31 percent. In both cases, however, 20 percent said they were undecided.

Voters said they favor Cruz over Sanders, 45 percent to 36 percent, with 18 percent undecided; Cruz over Clinton, 51 percent to 34 percent, with 16 percent

undecided.

Voters said they favor Trump over Clinton, 43 percent to 38 percent, with 19 percent undecided. But in a Sanders-Trump contest, Sanders would garner 43 percent of the vote to 40 percent for Trump, with 17 percent undecided.

Among those surveyed, 82 percent said they plan to vote in the primary. Of those, 51 percent said they planned to vote in the GOP primary, while 36 percent indicated they would take a Democratic ballot. Another 14 percent said they were undecided.

According to the poll, 19 percent of the voters will be casting ballots for the first time.

Of those surveyed, 50 percent identified themselves as independent or “leaning independent.”

The poll surveyed voters on various issues from illegal immigration to the performance of officeholders.

On the question of those living in the country illegally, 53 percent of the voters favor a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants with no criminal record. Another 27 percent want to deport all undocumented immigrants. Eight percent said “most” of those immigrants should be deported, while 12 percent said “some” of them should be deported.

A majority of those surveyed favor increasing taxes on top-income earners and large corporations. About 53 percent of the voters said taxes should be raised on top-income earners, and 52 percent would raise taxes on large corporations.

Across the board, voters said they are concerned about the size of the national debt, with 37 percent indicating they are “extremely concerned.”

Voters were divided over whether a candidate for the U.S. Supreme Court should be nominated this year or after the next president takes office. Forty-seven percent said President Barack Obama should nominate someone this year, while 46 percent said that should be a decision of the next president.

Congress gets overwhelmingly low marks from voters. Among those surveyed, 80 percent said they were “very” or “somewhat” dissatisfied with Congress.

When it comes to Missouri’s U.S. senators, voters were divided over their performances in office.

Thirty-eight percent said they were “somewhat” or “very” satisfied with U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, and 41 percent said the same thing about U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill.

Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, a Cape Girardeau Republican who is running for governor, garnered a “very” or “somewhat” satisfied response from 38 percent of the voters.

A sizable majority of the voters said they favor tighter ethics laws for the Missouri Legislature. In all, 79 percent said they “strongly” or “somewhat strongly” support such a move.

Despite the racial protests last fall at the University of Missouri-Columbia campus, 65 percent of voters said the state should keep the school’s budget at the current level.

The Docking Institute of Public Affairs at Fort Hays State University in Kansas conducted the telephone poll from March 3 to March 10. Pollsters contacted 1,480 Missouri residents of which 483 completed the survey. The poll’s margin of error is 4.6 percent.

The percentage of men and women surveyed mirrors the Missouri population as a whole. Men comprised 54 percent of surveyed voters; women, 46 percent.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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