U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock is locked in a tie against Republican challenger Herschel Walker as the two continue the march to the November General Election.
Each candidate received 46% support in a poll taken Sept. 16-20 among likely Georgia voters by Data for Progress.
The same poll found Republican Georgia Governor Brian Kemp leading Democratic challenger Stacy Abrams 51% to 44%.
The poll results also reflect favorability ratings that support the candidates’ standings.
In the race for U.S. Senate, which is drawing national headlines as it may again determine which political party controls the chamber, Warnock and Walker both have similar net favorability ratings.
Warnock has a net -5 rating, with 46% of surveyed voters viewing him either very or somewhat favorably and 51% viewing him as very or somewhat unfavorably.
Walker sits at a -6 net favorability, with 44% approving of the candidate and 50% disapproving.
The disparity, like the overall sentiment on voting plans, is more pronounced between Kemp and Abrams.
Abrams net favorable sits in double digits, at -11, while Kemp is enjoying a positive net favorable, at +5, a disparity of 16 percentage points.
That’s similar to surveyed voters’ opinions on President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. The incumbent Democrat is underwater with voters by 15 percentage points. Trump is also under water, but far less so at 4 percentage points.
Kemp’s lead over Abrams, and the wide gap in approval ratings, may be driven by voters’ top concerns. Voters overwhelmingly (51%) indicated they were most concerned with addressing economic conditions such as inflation and food and gas prices, problems that have arisen through Biden’s presidency and which, historically, have affected voter trends in elections against the party in power.
Democrats have been surging in the polls nationwide on the issue of abortion access in the wake of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. That issue is the third-highest concern among polled Georgia voters, but trails issues related to the economy significantly, at just 16%. Further, voters indicated their second-highest concern (17%) as the Democratic Party moving too far to the left.
Combined, those results could indicate Democratic strategies related to abortion access aren’t finding firm footing in Georgia while voters are buying into common GOP gripes about moving the nation toward socialism under Democratic control.
Worth noting, only 14% of polled voters indicated they were concerned the Republican Party was moving too far to the right.
