New mayoral poll shows Bonner, Herenton, Turner in lead, Young gaining
Leading candidates in the Memphis mayor’s race include (from left) Floyd Bonner, Willie Herenton, Van Turner and Paul Young. (The Daily Memphian)
Clarification: This story has been updated with more detailed poll results for all of the candidates. A chart, which misrepresented the polling, has been deleted.
A new Memphis mayoral poll showed Paul Young, the Downtown Memphis Commission CEO, gaining strength but still trailing former Mayor Willie Herenton, Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr. and NAACP Memphis Branch President Van Turner.
The poll was conducted by Caissa Public Strategy and was released by the Greater 901 Initiative political action committee during a fundraiser Tuesday night. The Daily Memphian obtained a presentation that included some of the polling data.
The poll surveyed 600 registered Memphis voters and has a 4% margin of error, according to the presentation. The respondents were 53% Black and 45% white. Memphis is 63% Black, 23% white and 9% Hispanic.
The poll showed Turner and Bonner in the lead, with 16% and 15% respectively. Herenton trailed them at 14%. And Young had 12%, which was up four percentage points from another February poll conducted by Caissa.
Michelle McKissack, who polled at 6% in February, was down to 4% in the latest numbers. Frank Colvett remained unchanged from February at 3%. Joe Brown declined six percentage points, from 9% to 3%.
J.W. Gibson declined a single percentage point, from 3% to 2%. Karen Camper ticked up one percentage point, from 3% to 4%. About 13% of voters were undecided.
The poll also surveyed voters with an open-ended question about whom they would vote for mayor. About 10.5% of voters who responded provided Jesus as a write-in answer and some said they would choose current Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland. Strickland is term-limited and cannot run in this election.
The poll also shows those surveyed have a bleak outlook on the future of the city. About 59.4% believed the city was headed in the wrong direction.
The Daily Memphian also obtained what appeared to be a video advertisement that featured two women discussing their fear of going to the gas station and the crime present in the city.
“It just feels so dangerous now. Even in broad daylight,” one says to the other.
“Tired of being scared? So are we. Join us,” read the yellow text that flashed across the screen.
The Greater 901 PAC’s fundraiser Tuesday evening was at Seasons 52 in East Memphis. It was hosted by businessman Chance Carlisle and Brian Stephens, who also is the CEO of Caissa, according to an email flyer.
Carlisle in an interview this month said the PAC was nonpartisan and focused on community issues such as reducing crime and obtaining more federal dollars for Memphis.
He said the success of the fundraiser would determine the level of the group’s involvement in the October municipal election.
Topics
2023 elections 2023 Memphis Mayor's race Paul Young Van Turner Willie Herenton Floyd Bonner Jr.Samuel Hardiman
Samuel Hardiman is an enterprise and investigative reporter who focuses on local government and politics. He began his journalism career at the Tulsa World in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he covered business and, later, K-12 education. Hardiman came to Memphis in 2018 to join the Memphis Business Journal, covering government and economic development. He then served as the Memphis Commercial Appeal’s city hall reporter and later joined The Daily Memphian in 2023. His current work focuses on Elon Musk’s xAI, regional energy needs and how Memphis and Shelby County government spend taxpayer dollars.
Want to comment on our stories or respond to others? Join the conversation by subscribing now. Only paid subscribers can add their thoughts or upvote/downvote comments. Our commenting policy can be viewed here.