Poll: Adams, Hetherington and Williams lead school board races

The latest Inweekly/Political Matrix poll shows the Escambia County school board candidates have begun to separate themselves, but more than a third of the likely voters still don’t know them.

District 1 Incumbent Kevin Adams has slightly increased his lead over Marjorie White since the poll conducted in early June, 34.4%-20.5 %, with 45% either not knowing the candidates or undecided.

In the District 2, Kells Hetherington has jumped into the lead with 25% of the respondents. Ray Guillory and Paul Festko, Superintendent Malcolm Thomas’ former Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum & Instruction, are battling it out to make a runoff in the non-partisan race, 16.6%-15.6%.  Nearly 43% of the voters either did not know the candidates or were undecided.

The District 3 has changed since early June with Clinton Powell withdrawing and former School Board member Linda Moultrie failing to qualify. If the primary were held today, Larry Williams (26.6%) and Laura Elder (17.6%) would face each other in a runoff.  Walker Wilson is within striking distance with 10.4%.  Lee Hansen, who was appointed to the post by Gov. Rick Scott last December, trails the field with 7.6%.  Over third of the votes either did not know the candidates or were undecided.

District 1 July 21-22 June 6-7 Difference
Kevin Adams 34.4% 25.4% 9.0%
Marjorie White 20.5% 13.0% 7.5%
I do not know these candidates 42.2% 47.2% 12.0%
Undecided 2.8% 14.5% -11.7%
District 2 July 21-22 June 6-7 Difference
Kells Hetherington 25.0% 2.5% 22.5%
Ray Guillory 16.6% 8.6% 8.0%
Paul Fetsko 15.6% 4.6% 11.0%
I do not know these candidates 39.2% 74.8% -35.6%
Undecided 3.6% 9.5% -5.9%
District 3 July 21-22 June 6-7 Difference
Larry Williams Sr. 26.6% 3.6% 23.0%
Laura Edler 17.6% 1.7% 15.9%
Walker Wilson 10.4% 3.8% 6.6%
Lee Hansen 7.6% 4.6% 3.0%
I do not know any of these candidates. 33.3% 34.5% -1.2%
Undecided 4.6% 27.8% -22.5%

The persons sampled were likely voters of the primary and general election cycles and were called using an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system  during the hours of 2-8 p.m. July 21-22. The phone numbers called were provided by Escambia Supervisor of Elections Office. The Margin of Error for this study is +/- 4.5% with a confidence level of 95%.

 

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