Jackson Free Press

JACKSON, Miss. -- Incumbent Mayor Harvey Johnson appears to be in a political slide exactly a week from the Democratic primary.

That's what we find in our exclusive Commitment 2005 Mayoral Election Poll.

Only 35 percent of voters surveyed said that if the primary were today, they would vote for Johnson. Forty-eight percent said Frank Melton has their vote and 16 percent said they were undecided.

The Mason-Dixon Poll is from a pool of 500 likely Jackson voters. The margin of error is about 4.5 percent.

When it came to black voters, the mayor beat Melton by 12 percent, with 47 percent of the vote.

But when white voters responded, 75 percent said Melton has their vote.

Only 10 percent of white voters in Jackson said they would vote for Johnson in the upcoming primary.

Johnson, who was on his way back from a black mayors' conference in Ohio, was not available for comment on the polls late Tuesday.

Full report here.