For most of the campaign the Louisiana Governor’s race has seen two men, David Vitter Republican and John Bel Edwards Democrat leading in most of the polls. For many of the recent surveys the two candidates have been in a virtual dead heat. There appears now to be some separation between the two campaigns.

A JMC Analytics survey recently  found that of 500 registered likely voters 28% preferred candidate Edwards. Vitter polled a 19% number while candidate Jay Dardenne tallied 8% and Scott Angelle polled a 7% number.

This is the first significant separation in the Governor’s polls that show either Vitter or Edwards gaining momentum. John Couvillon, a pollster, says that Edwards is riding high on what appears to be Republican infighting.

He's run a very non-partisan campaign that's emphasizing his conservative stances on certain social issues, so almost nobody knows that he's a Democrat, between the ads and the fact that he hasn't mentioned he's a Democrat.

The poll also showed that Edwards is not only performing well among likely voters in his own party but he is getting support from Republicans as well.

John Bel is pulling 11-percent of registered Republicans.  He's doing very well among white independents, as well.  Those are the voters Angelle and Dardenne have to have if they want to have a prayer of making the runoff.

Most politicos still see the Governor’s race coming down to a runoff between Vitter and Edwards. Louisiana voters will go to the polls October 24th to vote on the Governor’s race and several other statewide and local offices and issues

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