By John Celock
Missouri voters are in store for another competitive Senate race, as a new poll shows both candidates tied.
An Emerson College Poll released Monday shows U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) and Republican Attorney General Josh Hawley tied at 45 percent of the vote with 11 percent undecided. The competitive race comes after Missouri saw competitive Senate races in 2016 and 2012.
The poll shows that McCaskill, a second term Democrat from Kansas City, has a 42 percent favorability rating and a 42 percent unfavorable rating. Hawley, a first term attorney general, has a 29 percent favorable rating and a 27 percent unfavorable rating.
McCaskill, a former state auditor first elected to the Senate in 2006, has faced competitive races in each of her three Senate campaigns, along with a competitive race during her unsuccessful 2004 bid for governor. Hawley, a law professor from Columbia, won a competitive race for the attorney general’s race, his first bid for elective office.
The Missouri race has been expected to be one of the most competitive in the country for the Senate this year, given the state’s split in the last decade between electing Democrats and Republicans statewide. Currently McCaskill and state Auditor Nicole Galloway are the only Democrats to hold statewide office in Missouri. Galloway, who was appointed to the vacant auditor’s office in 2015, faces her own competitive election bid this year.
The poll also indicated that President Trump has a slightly favorable approval rating in the state. The poll showed that Trump has a 47 percent approval rating with 45 saying that they did not approve of the president’s job performance. The poll also indicated that Gov. Eric Greitens (R), who faces several indictments and a potential impeachment by the GOP-controlled Legislature, has a 33 percent approval rating and 46 percent disapproval.