Republican gubernatorial candidate Foster Friess has now surged to first in the Republican primary, according to a new report from Trafalgar Strategy.
Friess is at 21-percent flat, beating his competitors in a fairly crowded field for the GOP nomination for Wyoming governor.
The poll from Trafalgar has a margin of error of +/-2.35.
The poll’s methodology section reads, in part, “Likely voters were selected at random from a list of registered voters modeled to reflect their likeliness of participating in the Republican primary election based on past election participation and registration date, as well as demographic, geographic, and consumer information. In excess of 50,000 households were contacted over the duration of the poll.”
Friess wasn’t even polling among the top three last month, when other candidates Harriet Hageman, Mark Gordon, and Sam Galeotos were polling better, according to a Wyoming Public Media and Wyoming PBS poll.
In the Trafalgar poll, Gordon is still making a strong showing at 20 percent flat, with Hageman at 16.2 percent. Also, 19.9 percent of voters surveyed are still undecided.
Friess has also been endorsed by Donald Trump Jr., who said, in part, “Foster Friess has always fought for the little guy.”
“He’s not part of the swamp. He’s following in my father’s footsteps and not accepting any special interest money. Foster’s sole focus is to protect your money and to fight for the teachers, the welders, the nurses and every single hard-working family in Wyoming,” Trump Jr. added.
Friess told TheDC that he was “grateful for the endorsement from Donald Trump Jr.” Tuesday.
“We were thrilled with Chuck Norris’ endorsement; he’s been a strong defender of the Second Amendment and a big supporter of our men and women in uniform. He’s a true patriot,” Friess also told TheDC.
Norris endorsed Friess this Sunday, calling him “a real patriot who deeply loves his country and the people in it.”
“Obviously, we are all pleased with the fact that our most recent poll shows us ahead by a couple percentage points of the former leader, and the fact that that has been achieved in just four months when we first entered the race with about a 1-percent rating,” he added. (RELATED: Foster Friess Says GOP Must Do A Better Job Of Selling The Free Market System)
“I have become very identified with the everyday worker because of my humble background where my mom dropped out of school in the eighth grade to pick cotton to save the family farm, and my wealth did not begin to accumulate until I was about age 40 after starting Friess Associates.”
“So, my humble background and then subsequent wealth — voters sense I will be in a position to look out for my fellow ‘little guy’ and in donating my entire salary to small charities around Wyoming and not taking a single penny of special interest money. The fact that ‘I can’t be bought’ is also resonating in addition to my demands for transparency,” Friess also told TheDC.
Disclosure: Foster Friess was an early investor in TheDC.