Shock new poll shows GOP Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt 7 points BEHIND his rival

A shocking poll out of Oklahoma Monday shows incumbent Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt seven points behind his rival. 

A survey from Oklahoma-based political consulting firm Ascend Action and KOKH-TV shows Stitt with 42 percent support from likely voters and Republican-turned-Democrat Joy Hofmeister leading the race with 49 percent support. 

Another 8 percent of Oklahoma’s likely voters remain undecided. 

Hofmeister is ahead thanks to strong support among independents. 

The poll found that 69 percent of independent likely voters supported Hofmeister, while just 22 percent were for Stitt. 

A shocking poll out of Oklahoma Monday shows Democrat Joy Hofmeister (left) seven points ahead of incumbent Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt (right) 

A survey from Oklahoma-based political consulting firm Ascend Action and KOKH-TV shows Stitt with 42 percent support from likely voters and Republican-turned-Democrat Joy Hofmeister leading the race with 49 percent support 

Hofmeister is ahead thanks to strong support among independents. The poll found that 69 percent of independent likely voters supported Hofmeister, while just 22 percent were for Stitt.

One in five Republican likely voters also said they planned to support Hofmeister, who has served as the state’s Superintendent of Public Instruction since 2015. 

Meanwhile, just 4 percent of Democrats said they’d cross party lines to cast a ballot for the incumbent governor. 

Hofmeister switched parties a year ago to run against Stitt for governor. 

Eighty-nine percent of Oklahoma Democrats said they planned to vote for her. 

Of course, in deep red Oklahoma, Republican voters outnumber Democrats. 

However, supporters of Hofmeister believe she has cross-party appeal. 

While former President Donald Trump endorsed Stitt’s run back in March, Hofmeister has tried to attract the less MAGA-attached parts of the Republican Party. 

She’s also expressed support for keeping abortion legal. 

‘I do not favor extremism on either side of this issue. Most importantly, this is a healthcare decision between a woman and her doctor, and it needs to stay that way,’ she said in March. 

In the same interview, she said ‘tough subjects’ like the Tulsa massacre should be taught in schools.  

Hofmeister, an educator who ran a tutoring business out of Tulsa, has made education policy central to her campaign. 

She’s thrown cold water on a Stitt-backed proposal to provide education vouchers to families to spend on private school tuition and other education expenses. 

Hofmeister has called this a ‘rural school killer,’  a message that has seemingly resonated with voters. 

‘The thing I think that’s surprised me the most is the surge for Hofmeister in some of the rural areas,’ Hudson Talley, a partner with Ascend Action, told KOKH-TV. 

The poll was conducted between October 10 and 12 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percent. 

And while Hofmeister’s lead is outside the margin, Talley said he believed Stitt could make gains and overtake her in the next three weeks. 

‘I feel like Joy may be at her ceiling and this may be Stitt’s race to lose,’ he said.   

Oklahoma hasn’t elected a Democratic governor since 2006, when voters gave Democratic Gov. Brad Henry a second term.