Forget Chuchill Downs for now, there's a new horse race in the Commonwealth of Kentucky between incumbent Democrat Governor Andy Beshear and Republican challenger Daniel Cameron, currently the Bluegrass State's attorney general.
Within mere weeks of Cameron winning Kentucky's GOP primary and advancing to challenge Gov. Beshear, the two candidates are neck-and-neck in the general election contest according to a new Cygnal poll from the end of May released this week:
Cygnal data shows Republican challenger Daniel Cameron is in a dead heat with Governor Beshear (47 – 47) with only 7% of voters saying they are undecided. Despite Beshear’s positive image, Kentucky’s political environment remains incredibly favorable for Republicans in this November’s election with the generic congressional ballot indicating an R+11 advantage.
According to pollster Brent Buchanan, the president of Cygnal, "the opportunity for Cameron and Kentucky Republicans lies with converting swing voters who have a 94% disapproval of President Biden but hold an 81% favorability of Governor Beshear."
🚨 2023 KENTUCKY POLL
— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) June 1, 2023
GOV
(D) Beshear: 46.8%
(R) Cameron: 46.7%
AG
(R) Coleman: 39%
(D) Stevenson: 29%
Fav/Unfav:
Beshear: 55/41 (net +14)
Cameron: 46/37 (net +9)
⦿ Cygnal (A) | 600 LV | 05/22-23
⦿ R48/D46/I6 | MoE: ±3.92%https://t.co/xxOp9Gar7s pic.twitter.com/fCcXIqV6j1
Buchanan said that the electoral "environment is ripe" for Cameron to win this November's race. That's because, according to Cygnal's analysis of the poll, the Kentucky voters who disapprove of Biden but approve of Beshear are "mostly supporters of former President Donald Trump" and "under age 65." By "nationalizing the race," Buchanan explained, Republicans "will move these voters to Cameron and push the Republican statewide candidates toward the larger overall advantage they hold."
That's exactly what the Republican Party of Kentucky is doing.
"This poll is bad news for Andy Beshear, Biden’s man in Kentucky,” RPK spokesman Sean Southard said of the latest numbers. "This poll confirms Kentuckians know Andy Beshear is out of touch with Kentucky and are excited about taking the state in new direction with Daniel Cameron, a strong leader who will get people back to work, restore law and order, and get politics out of the classroom."
Earlier this year, as Townhall reported, Republicans in the Bluegrass State claimed a historic lead in voter registration over Democrats in a significant victory for the Republican Party of Kentucky as it looks toward defeating Beshear who was elected in 2019 by barely more than 5,000 votes (0.4 percent) in a race against Matt Bevin who was, at the time, the most unpopular governor in America. Since Beshear took office, Democrats lost 147,119 registered voters while Republicans picked up 118,373.
RPK spokesman Sean Southard told Townhall at the time that "Kentuckians know that Andy Beshear and the Democrat Party do not represent their values" and that the current governor is "captured by the far-left's ideological crusade in our schools, has presided over the largest loss of student learning in a generation, and has never met a Biden spending bill he didn't support."
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