With just 60 days until the midterm elections, the latest polling from Georgia shows that incumbent GOP Governor Brian Kemp is expanding his lead in the rematch against Democrat Stacey Abrams while GOP Challenger Herschel Walker took a lead to poll above Democrat incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock.
In the contest for Georgia governor, "Kemp picked up a point, but Abrams slipped two points since July’s poll," Fox 5 Atlanta explained. "Kemp continues to lead Abrams now with 50% versus her 42%" while "Libertarian Shane Hazel polled at 1% and another 1% say they plan to support another candidate." Undecideds grew to 6 percent in the Insider Advantage/Fox 5 Atlanta poll that was conducted during the first week of September of 550 likely voters with a 4.2 percent margin of error.
When it comes to the U.S. Senate race — a critical one to determining the balance of power in Congress starting in 2023, "Sen. Rev. Raphael Warnock now trails Republican challenger Herschel Walker with 44% versus Walker’s 47%," according to Fox 5. "Warnock appears to have lost four points while Walker picked up two points since July’s poll" while "Libertarian Chase Oliver polled at 4% with 5% still undecided."
Thanks to Georgia's election framework, the pollsters noted the roughly neck-and-neck contest for U.S. Senate could mean that "this race could very well be headed to a General Election runoff given the fact that there seems to be few points among the various demographics up for grabs."
New Insider Advantage poll in Georgia is 3rd survery in a row to show Herschel Walker leading. https://t.co/CuRhNKPdSk pic.twitter.com/1wmwOPAJwF
— Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) September 9, 2022
A lot can happen in the final two months of an election cycle, but Kemp's lead growing at this point while Walker leading in a third consecutive poll suggests that the political winds — in Georgia at least — are at Republicans' backs.
The latest poll comes as some Democrat groups are reportedly suspending their spending in the Peach State as it looks like voters are souring on Dem candidates, especially the supposedly brilliant political strategist Stacey Abrams:
Hearing some of the outside Democrat groups are winding down their spending for Abrams and others are no longer committing funds. The Democrats’ own internal polling has Abrams down and she hasn’t led Kemp at all in any internals.
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) September 9, 2022
As Vespa reported previously, the recent cheering from Dems seems to have been a bit of wishful thinking, a point reiterated by recent polling in Georgia. Still, this is no time for Republicans to rest easy, as Vespa explained:
I’ll still bank on the economy as the most pressing issue for voters, and on that—Democrats have failed miserably.
Then again, the GOP leadership's malaise in recent months, especially with the Senate races, has given Democrats reasons to be more hopeful. It remains the GOP's midterm to lose, and while there is still time for struggling Republicans to turn things around--it's not out of the realm of possibility that they blow it.