Does Henry McMaster Have An Insurmountable Lead In The Race For Governor Of South Carolina?
South Carolina governor Henry McMaster had to be dragged across the finish line in his bid for a full, four-year term in office back in 2018. Seriously, had this 74-year-old career politician  who was gifted the governorship in 2017 by former U.S. president Donald Trump  not received a last-minute presidential endorsement in that race, he would have likely lost his partys nomination to Upstate businessman John Warren. As recently as last fall, McMaster was in serious political trouble again  due in no small part to his administrations botched handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, Warren  who scored some big wins for the GOP on the 2020 campaign trail  was flying high and flexing his muscle legislatively. Plenty of Palmetto politicos wrote off McMaster  and began looking at Warren as the likely frontrunner in a 2022 GOP gubernatorial primary. That was then   Beginning in early March, McMaster began experiencing nothing short of a Lazarus moment  reviving his political fortunes and reestablishing himself as the man to beat in the upcoming election cycle. It all started when the status quo establishment Republican received yet another endorsement from Trump  which was followed by a handful of deftly executed political moves of his own. Since then, McMaster has avoided the unforced errors that previously plagued his administration  although there are still several serious issues he must content with in his cabinet. Meanwhile, unlike his fiscally liberal colleagues in the state legislature, he has avoided conservative ire over the states bloated fiscal year 2021-2022 budget  which is on the verge of spending nearly $32 billion on the same byzantine maze of failed bureaucracies that have been holding this state back for decades. McMasters top campaign strategist  Tim Pearson  has been shopping a poll reportedly conducted in concert with the Republican Governors Association (RGA) which shows him enjoying a whopping ten-to-one lead over Warren amongst Republican primary voters in the Palmetto State. Thats what the poll purportedly found   Detailed top-line data was not provided to this news outlet, but I am told the poll is being shopped to several media outlets across the state. I suspect one of them will probably report on its findings before too much longer. Several donors familiar with the survey said it showed McMaster in the seventies with Warren drawing the backing of less than ten percent of the GOP electorate. *****  DONT MISS A STORY  SUBSCRIBE TODAY! *****  One of these donors was more specific  telling me the poll had McMaster ahead of Warren by a 74 percent to 7 percent margin. Hmmmm   The last trustworthy polling I have seen on McMaster was released a little over two months ago by Atlanta, Georgia-based political strategist Robert Cahaly of The Trafalgar Group. According to that survey, a total of 70.5 percent of Republican voters in South Carolina said they approved of the job McMaster was doing  including 41.5 percent who said they strongly approved of his performance in office. Conversely, only 21.9 percent disapproved of McMasters performance  including 11.6 percent who strongly disapproved. While McMasters numbers are far from robust, they are much better than I would have imagined under the circumstances, I noted at the time. So while a ten-to-one lead for McMaster over Warren is certainly within the realm of possibility  I dont buy that this survey is representative of the true state of the race. More likely than not, this poll was probably geared toward making an impression on the donors who received it  geared more toward raising money than providing accurate information. RGA polls arent know for accuracy, one national source told me. They serve more to boost the candidates they are backing and entice donors to give more money to them.  Still, things can change on a dime  and speaking of dimes, Warren obviously has enough of them to drive some serious negative messaging on the governor (as well as positive messaging on himself). But if he is going to start such a coordinated effort, now is the time. *****  ABOUT THE AUTHOR   (Via: FITSNews)  Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and seven children. And yes, he has LOTS of hats (including that Minnesota Twins lid pictured above). We have an open microphone policy here at FITSNews! Submit your own letter to the editor (or guest column) via-email HERE. CLICK HERE. CLICK HERE. Banner: S.C. Governor