Millsaps College and Chism Strategies issued the following statement.
An alarming number of Mississippi voters, nearly 50%, say they may
refuse to receive the COVID-19 vaccine or are
unsure if they will get it when it becomes available to them, and just
over half report they will either definitely or probably receive the
vaccine. The findings of the newly released Millsaps College/Chism
Strategies State of the State Survey illustrate the
challenges that lie ahead for state leaders, public health officials
and leaders in the medical profession who are attempting to combat the
coronavirus, slow its spread and convince Magnolia Staters that they
should take the virus—and the vaccine—as seriously
as possible.
Millsaps
College and Chism Strategies have conducted the quarterly State of the
State Survey since 2017 in an effort to provide an unbiased, academic
view of current political issues in
Mississippi through the responses of its citizens.
The data shows that Mississippians between the ages of 18 to 34 and 45 to 54, those living in northern Mississippi’s First Congressional District and voters who describe their politics as being “very conservative” appear to be the most skeptical of receiving the vaccine at this time. Meanwhile, voters over 55, those living in central Mississippi’s Second and Third Congressional Districts, Democrats and those who identify politically as moderates or liberals are the most likely to say they will definitely or probably get vaccinated when the time comes.
Meanwhile, the State of the State Survey finds that Governor Tate Reeves is hemorrhaging support among Mississippi voters at the close of his first year in office. Reeves ends his first year as governor with 34% approving of his performance and nearly 50% disapproving. Voters have soured on Reeves considerably, as his net approval rating declined from +28 points in June 2020 to -15 points in January 2021. This comes with a mixed bag of findings regarding perceptions of Reeves’ handling of the coronavirus pandemic, as 37% of voters believe his crisis management of the pandemic has been excellent/good, 26% say it has just been fair and 35% say it has been poor/totally unacceptable.
“Our 13th
quarterly survey addresses several sobering and troublesome issues
facing our state including the coronavirus pandemic, drastically
changing the way we collect tax revenue
in Mississippi and trying to sort out how and why Mississippians made
their choices in the 2020 presidential election,” said Dr. Nathan
Shrader, chair of the Department of Government and Politics at Millsaps
College. “We sincerely hope that this information
will prove to be beneficial for our lawmakers as they return to Jackson
for the 2021 legislative session, to the news media who informs us
about politics and the voters themselves.”
Other Key Findings:
- Mississippi voters are evenly divided on the state’s direction, with 35% saying we are moving in the right direction, 39% in the wrong direction and 26% unsure.
- Approximately 34% approve of the performance of Governor Tate Reeves, while 49% disapprove. Another 18% are unsure at this time.
- Lieutenant Governor Delbert Hosemann currently has a 39% approval rating, with nearly a quarter saying they disapprove. 37% did not have enough information to evaluate his performance.
- Voters are evenly divided on the performance of Attorney General Lynn Fitch with 33% approving, 34% disapproving and 32% lacking sufficient information about her work.
- The Mississippi Legislature remains underwater with voters. Just 27% approve of the body’s performance, compared to 44% who disapprove and 29% who say they don’t have enough information to rate their work.
- A small plurality of 22% say making healthcare more accessible and affordable to Mississippians should be the top priority for legislators, followed by 18% who say fixing roads and bridges should be the top priority.
- 42% believe the measures taken by Mississippi’s state government have not gone far enough to stop the spread of COVID-19. 36% feel the measures have been appropriate, while just 16% say the state has gone too far already.
- Just over 42% favor eliminating the state’s income tax as proposed by Governor Reeves, a proposition opposed by 36% of voters. Another 22% remain unsure.
- The majority of Mississippians continue to support early voting in the state, as 55% back the policy and just 38% are opposed.
- Only 3% of Mississippi voters support moving to exclusively vote-by-mail elections. 56% favor continuing in-person voting only, while 37% back utilizing a mix of in-person and vote-by-mail methods.
- Nearly 70% of Donald Trump voters in Mississippi supported him because they agreed with him on most policy issues. 36% of Biden voters here backed him because of policy agreement while 26% were voting against Trump, the Republicans and conservative policy.
- The state’s electorate is significantly more conservative ideologically and Republican from a partisan standpoint than the rest of the nation, with considerably fewer liberal and moderate voters than the national electorate.
“We
are pleased to partner with Millsaps College in providing another
quarterly measure of public opinion on a range of issues. They have
proven quite useful as our elected officials consider
policy options,” said Brad Chism, president of Chism Strategies.
The survey was conducted from December 18-20, 2020 with a sample size of 649, with 54% of interviews conducted via cell phone and 46% via landline. The survey has a Margin of Error of +/3.85%. Results were weighted to reflect voter turnout for the 2020 Mississippi elections.
Kingfish note: The press release states "nearly 50%" may not get the vaccine. Here is what the actual poll says:
A majority of Mississippians (53%) will likely get the COVID-19 vaccine when it is
available to them, but over a third (34%) say they may not. Another 13% are unsure at this time
about receiving the vaccination, meaning that as many as 47% of Mississippians may not take the
vaccine.
Spin?
32 comments:
What has tater tot down that’s worth praise? Bad economy. Bad vaccine rollout. Bad optics with letting the fair go on but business closed?
>Millsaps
That's all that really needed to be said.
Most people will do what is necessary, if they are convinced it is necessary. It simply means that some people still want to keep their options open until the last minute. They want to see what's happening to others before they get injected with something strange. Just being cautious. Makes sense.
And yet state Trumplicans will vote to re-elect every last one of them, especially against a Democrat.
Tator Tot! I love it. I love his cheesy smile. Mississippi needs better leaders than Philly Bryant, Helley Barbor, Cindy HydeAway-Smith & Tator Tot. But, the way the power structure is now we will all be dead before that happens. R.I.P.
Anybody who didn’t see this coming just wasn’t paying attention. TR is nothing more than a would be fat cat put in office to do the bidding of others. The State of MS was hoodwinked into passing on two highly qualified candidates in the last election. I am referring to Bill Waller and Jim Hood. Either would have been a good choice and certainly more competent and likable than what we have now.
Tater is a goober. Hard to find anyone who actually likes the guy. His personality is grating. Comes across as arrogant. But why would anyone put credence in a poll conducted by f'n Millsaps?
A Millsaps poll? The only IHL in Mississippi I would trust to conduct a poll not reflecting their own agenda would be St. Andrews. (Not the elementary grades)
Anybody who didn’t see this coming just wasn’t paying attention. TR is nothing more than a would be fat cat put in office to do the bidding of others. The State of MS was hoodwinked into passing on two highly qualified candidates in the last election. I am referring to Bill Waller and Jim Hood. Either would have been a good choice and certainly more competent and likable than what we have now.
11:23. agreed. it isn't the academic powerhouse it once was. one can get a better college education for half the price (or less) at MC, Belhaven, Tougaloo, or JSU.
Heh, “50% will decline the vaccine”
Well shit, seems like 50% are smarter than the Branch Covidians I see here daily
When it comes to Mississippi few "pollsters" are more wrong more often than Brad Chism. Just ask Mike Espy.
34% is still higher than the percentage of Mississippi's population that gives two shits about anyone or anything coming out of Milsaps Community College.
You want to know how someone went to Milsaps? Don't worry, they will tell you, have a shirt on, or a sticker on their 85 Volvo or Prius.
Taterhead needs a personality transplant - no matter how right he might be about anything, he's just not likeable, relatable or "one of us." As for Millsaps, I don't trust a word coming out of the mouth of anyone there. A pox on both houses.
40% plus in Mississippi will always say they are against a Republican no matter what the topic. It's built in with the black vote and white liberals. Oh by the way the United Kingdom just shutdown the whole country for at least the next 6 weeks. Damn Trump.
This is all a result of the degradation of trust in our institutions.
If you feel..... that the media has been biased, If you feel perhaps that the tech industry just might be biased, that the Fed can't be counted on to maintain the purchasing power of the Dollar, that the country politically can't enforce its own borders, that maybe the impeachment trial last year was a farce, that mayors in the country's largest cities have failed to provide leadership, that the Chinese werent forthright about the virus in its earliest stages, that RINOs won't represent their constituents, that the W.H.O is corrupt, that Dr Fauci might be more of a politician than an expert with real life experience, that saying A-Women after an opening prayer is stupid , that discussions on race have been totally polluted by panderers, and that maybe outfits like the F....B....I... and IRS (hello lois lerner!), and the NSA ....well can't be trusted to do the right thing...
Our institutions and leaders have failed us in major generational ways.
Is it surprisingly at all that the population in general doesnt trust the vaccine????
Or the governor?... or how about even this Millsaps report ???
Oh really? The same corruption around Phil Bryant was getting around Waller. Nothing would've changed but probably gotten worse and Waller was simply too ignorant to know otherwise.
That's 30% higher than I thought the red-faced mushy would have gotten and 30% higher than he deserves!
A Millsaps poll says a Millsaps alum has an approval rating of 34%. After that, will Reeves pay his Millsaps alumni dues?
I have know Tate for a long time. I didn’t vote for him(, I voted for Waller. . But I think he’s done as good a job with the virus as anyone could have . He’s seems to have tried to reach a middle ground between complete shutdown and no restrictions. I would not have wanted the job and thank goodness none of the commentators on here had it,
Maybe they should poll Millsaps grads and ask if they approve of the college president who took over a college with 1,000 students that now has 600 students?
12:43, Millsaps has gone way downhill, but that is a total joke trying to claim a JSU, Belhaven, or MC education is remotely close to a Millsaps one. I mean, not trying to be totally pretentious.
Woman, man, black, or white, all politicians the same - they talk the talk to impress the dumb ass masses but only focus on getting their sorry asses reelected.
If the elephants win both seats in Georgia, will they demand a recount, investigation, and audit?
I believe the last poll was also 34% for Tate. That was about 6 months ago.
Shrader fails to explain is why there was no 4th quarter 2020 survey of this ostensibly quarterly survey. The reason why? They were protecting Mike Espy whose campaign was directly and indirectly pumping the fawning press that Espy was within low single digits of pulling off the upset when Espy's campaign actually knew from internal polling that his star was fading, not rising.
Does it crack anyone else up that these people surveyed 649 people, people who had so little to do that they were willing to take the time to respond to a survey from a cold call on their cell phone, yet they can claim a 95%+ accuracy rate in a state with a population of almost three million. I think they need to add some control questions to the survey such as "Do you feel space weather impacts your daily health, do you think Kenny Stokes should be Governor, and have you ever worn a rasta hat and camo coat to address the city council".
The analysis in the survey says (page 13):
The Mississippi electorate as a whole is comprised of more Republicans and Independents along with strikingly fewer Democrats than the national electorate and is considerably more conservative than the rest of the United States.
The press release summary Chism and Millsaps wants the surface skimming Mississippi media to feed their audience:
The state’s electorate is significantly more conservative ideologically and Republican from a partisan standpoint than the rest of the nation, with considerably fewer liberal and moderate voters than the national electorate.
The survey analysis goes further:
Comparing the January 2021 State of the State Survey data with January 2020 Gallup national polling data on party affiliation, 50% of the national electorate identifies as Democratic, compared to just 28% in Mississippi (-32).
That's not bad news for Mississippi Donkeys, it is a TERRIBLE snapshot and hilariously funny when considering that the new party leader of Mississippi's Donkey herd believes the key to success at the ballot box is to run further to the left.
9:42. Millsaps isnt what it was 10 years ago.
It's financial struggles are well documented in Higher Education publications.
They are staying open due to Division III athletes who will pay to play soccer, football, swiming and diving, basketball-at the expense of academics.
Millsaps does have a good pre-med program and business school. So does MC and JSU.
Millsaps has partnered with William Carey to continue its eduation degree. (all education courses taken online at carey-but at Millsaps prices.)
liberal arts-english, history...all of the other places offer those also. at half the cost.
arts- belhaven for dance and theater and art, MC for music and art, JSU has the sonic boom (enough said), Tougaloo has the artist colony and a choir...
other health offerings-Belhaven, MC have nursing programs
This isn't 1950 where so few had doctorates that places like Millsaps attraced the best. There's far too many people with doctorates that even the little ole Tougaloo, JSU, Belhaven and MC's of the world have their pick of outstanding teachers and scholars.
Tater is not the sharpest crayon in the box. Getting a qualified candidate to run for governor who is also honest is almost impossible. It's multiple choice - pick one only - qualified or honest.
MS politicians know what's best for us...Republicans have made MS a laughing stock, they've held the reins a while now. Tater Tot, Phil Billy, Roger Dodger Wicker and Cindy (wishes now she was Hyding) Smith. No wonder their approval ratings are low. People look at MS and wonder if this is the "best" we have to represent the State. They hooked onto the Trump train and got left on a sidetrack!
Chism and Millsaps doing another poll?
The same group that announced (just a few days before the election) that Tater was going to lose to Jim Hood by almost 10 points?
The same group that announced that Mike Espy was going to be Cindy Hyde-Smith by eight points?
Yeah. I'm going to take their poll as an accurate measurement of anything, especially the performance of an incumbent Republican. Any Republican.
Chism has been on the Democratic payroll(s) for decades. Anybody that banks on the results of his polling does so only because they like the results. Particularly when they cannot be confirmed or denied because there is no election with actual results as in cases like this that just measure an issue and position that they care to promote.
Thanks Brad. Appreciate knowing your opinion on this matter - as if we didn't already know.
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