Reynolds leads challenger DeJear in governor race in latest poll

DES MOINES, Iowa (KCRG) - Iowa Republican Governor Kim Reynolds is leading Democratic challenger for governor Deidre DeJear by 17 points according to the latest Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll.

The poll found 48 percent of likely voters support Reynolds, while 31 percent support DeJear and five percent support Libertarian Rick Stewart. Five percent indicated they’d vote for someone else, two percent said they would not vote, and nine percent were not sure.

The new poll comes less than four months from the November midterm elections.

It also comes with a boost in Gov. Reynolds’ job performance approval from Iowans since a previous poll in March.

The latest poll had 52 percent of Iowans approving of her job performance, compared to 44 percent who disapprove. That’s up three points since March, when 49 percent approved of her job performance.

However, despite her approval being up, more Iowans said they think the state is heading in the wrong direction.

The poll found 46 percent of Iowans think the state is heading the wrong direction, compared to 42 percent who believe it’s heading in the right direction.

The poll, for Des Moines Register and Mediacom by Selzer & Co. of Des Moines, was conducted via telephone interviews with 811 Iowans ages 18 and older from July 10 through July 13. See the full results here.