Poll: Missouri AG Nixon has big gov. lead

ST. LOUIS, July 14 (UPI) -- Democratic Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon has a commanding lead in the race to choose the state's next governor, a poll indicated Monday.

Nixon holds big leads over either of his likely Republican opponents, U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof and State Treasurer Sarah Steelman, in the (St. Louis) Post-Dispatch/KMOV-TV poll, the newspaper reported.

Nixon was favored by 53 percent of poll respondents when matched against Steelman, who scored 34 percent, while in a race against Hulshof, Nixon led 52 percent to 35 percent.

Even before running his first television ad, Nixon has strong name recognition thanks to high-profile stances on consumer issues during 16 years as attorney general, the Post-Dispatch reported.

"I like his no-call bill," poll respondent Lawrence Mullen of St. Louis told the Post-Dispatch. "That was a great idea. He seems to care about the people. I see him in the news a lot."

The Post-Dispatch and KMOV said the survey included 800 likely Missouri voters polled last week and has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.