According to a Wyoming Survey & Analysis Center poll released on Thursday, Harriet Hageman, who was endorsed by President Trump, has maintained her broad advantage of around 30 points over Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) in the GOP primary race.
Wyoming voters backed Hageman by a wide margin, 57% to 28%. Cheney received only 28% of the vote, with a difference of 29 percentage points. Ten percent are still undecided. According to past surveys, Cheney has led by 30%, 28%, and 22%.
The poll polled 562 likely Wyoming voters that are from all political backgrounds between July 25 and Aug. 6, with a four-point margin of error.
Brian Harnisch, the director of WYSAC, said if the polling was just for GOP primary voters, Hageman would be leading by a margin of around 50 points.
According to the poll, 65% of those who voted for Cheney stated their response was in support of her. In contrast, among those who backed a different candidate, 29% said they are actually supporting that individual but 41% claimed their support for the alternative candidate was meant to be opposed to Cheney.
In the poll, 41 percent of those surveyed were strongly opposed to Cheney rather than simply supporting Hageman, as the results showed. Cheney’s rising trend of strong opposition versus strong support for Hageman supports the race being a referendum on Cheney.
Professor Jim King of the University of Wyoming stated, “The race for the Republican presidential nomination appears to be a referendum on Cheney, as it is when an incumbent seeks re-election.”
When the poll inquired about whether respondents had viewed the partisan Jan. 6 Committee, of which Cheney is the vice chairwoman, 57% of Hageman’s supporters responded that they have been “following but not too closely or not at all.” Cheney’s backers say they have followed very carefully or somewhat closely 83 percent of them.
Republicans have been critical of Cheney’s stance against Donald Trump and America First. The Wyoming GOP Party “excommunicated” Cheney by no longer recognizing her as a GOP member. She has lost the backing of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), and former Wyoming Rep. Barbara Cubin, who has thrown their support behind Hageman.
