Brunner Leads GOP Field in Own Poll

With six weeks left until Missouri’s Republican Senate primary, businessman John Brunner leads his two competitors by 20 points each, according to a poll conducted for his campaign last week.

Brunner, a self-funding first-time candidate emphasizing his private sector business experience, claims 40 percent support in the poll, while Rep. Todd Akin and former state Treasurer Sarah Steelman are tied at 20 percent. Nearly one-in-five likely GOP primary voters is undecided.

Brunner only entered the race last October, but he’s quickly built up his name ID by dominating the airwaves with an investment in several early TV ad buys. Brunner’s run six TV commercials so far, and by the end of the first quarter of the year, he had poured over $2 million of personal money into his campaign.

Brunner’s own polling shows his support has broadened during the last month. A poll conducted for his campaign in late May showed Brunner at 30 percent, Akin at 23 percent and Steelman at 22 percent.

The winner of the August 7 Republican primary will face Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, one of this cycle’s most vulnerable incumbents.

The American Viewpoint poll of 600 likely Republican primary voters was conducted for Brunner’s campaign from June 19-21 and carries a margin of error +/- 4.0 percentage points.

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