U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock continues to face a tight battle against Republican challenger Herschel Walker, a new poll from Democratic firm Data for Progress finds.
The poll puts Warnock well within the survey’s margin of error of +/- 3% at 48% to 47%.
Meanwhile, Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is a full 10 percentage points ahead of his Democratic challenger, Stacey Abrams. Kemp overshot the 50% threshold at 53% support.
Warnock’s close polling comes as he’s underwater in favorability ratings, which the Data for Progress poll put at 50% unfavorable, including 45% very unfavorable, to just 47% favorable. Sentiment for Walker is similar, with 46% viewing the Republican candidate favorably and 51% viewing him unfavorably.
Meanwhile, Kemp and Abrams are miles apart on favorability. Kemp is enjoying a +13 point net favorability while Abrams is largely unfavorable at -10.
Abrams, and to some extent Warnock, is likely being dragged by President Joe Biden who is underwater with voters by 18 percentage points. Former President Donald Trump also has a negative net favorability rating, but it’s only at -6.
Republicans are also leading on their top campaign issue, the economy. Asked from a list of options which issue they were most concerned with, an overwhelming majority, 51%, said their top concern was addressing economic conditions such as inflation and food and gas prices.
Democrats’ top 2022 campaign issue, protecting access to safe, legal abortion, ranked second on the list, but at just 15% among respondents.
Both Democrats and Republicans equally face concerns that their party is moving too far to the left or right, with 15% of respondents each saying that is a top concern.
As an incumbent, Warnock enters his race with an inherent advantage, but he’s running in a state that leans red and during a Midterm Election at a time when a Democrat occupies the White House, which has historically hurt the party in power.
That he’s even leading slightly in the race is largely a reflection of the failures within Walker’s campaign, which in recent weeks has been plagued by scandal.
Walker’s ex-girlfriend, who hasn’t been named to protect her identity, provided evidence that Walker paid for her to have an abortion in 2009, which Walker denies. Walker is vehemently anti-abortion.
Georgia’s U.S. Senate race is among the top-watched in the nation as it could, again determine which party controls the body.
