D.C. pollster tests messaging for Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan re-election

A new poll reveals what messaging could be used as Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan gets ready to run for four more years in office.

But the pollster purports to be far away from Duval.

JacksonvilleStudies.com lists its address at a strip mall with a UPS store in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of northwest Washington, D.C., just blocks from Malcolm X Park.

Its phone number isn’t accepting inbound calls, and Deegan herself isn’t talking about the survey as of Thursday morning. So we don’t know if her “Duval for All” political committee is paying for the effort, or if the money is coming from elsewhere.

No disclaimer language was on the text message soliciting responses or the poll itself. We called “John,” whose phone in Astor, Florida, sent out the text message. But he didn’t answer and we were routed to what was called a “campaign voicemail.” Our call hasn’t been returned at this point.

The poll tests Deegan head-to-head against various potential Republican candidates, including House Speaker Pro Tempore Wyman Duggan, Duval County Elections Supervisor Jerry Holland and Jacksonville City Councilman Rory Diamond.

None of them have formally declared a run, though we have seen polling conducted on Holland’s behalf.

While it’s unclear who runs against Deegan in 2027, what is clear is those candidates will have to counter various positive messages, including some auditioned in this phone poll.

People responding to the poll are asked if they think the Jacksonville Journey Forward initiative is keeping them safer and improving lives, as well as whether Deegan is keeping promises, making things easier for small businesses, supporting first responders, and was using her “negotiating skills” in completing negotiations with the NFL Jaguars for stadium improvements.

Additionally, they are asked if they know Jacksonville has the lowest property taxes of any major city in the state, if she has improved downtown, if she has made progress on “affordable housing” and health insurance coverage, and if she is “approachable.”

The poll does not ask about a hologram of Deegan at the Jacksonville International Airport, a much-criticized airport greeting device that critics say shows her ego and self-promotion, suggesting the surveyors don’t believe this issue matters to voters despite Republican tubthumping.

The apparently pro-Deegan poll comes after the Tyson Group’s survey earlier this year showed Jacksonville voters would prefer a generic Republican to a generic Democrat in a ballot test stripped of meaningful markers like name recognition and the power of incumbency.

No serious candidate has filed to run against Deegan yet, and she has yet to open a campaign account.

But this poll shows that even this sleepy campaign cycle is about to stop hitting the snooze button and get going at last.