By STEVE WILSON
THE CENTER SQUARE
(The Center Square) — A new Emerson College poll released Thursday shows a statistical tie in the Georgia U.S. Senate contest and Gov. Brian Kemp with a comfortable lead in the gubernatorial race.
According to the poll, U.S. Sen. Rafael Warnock leads Republican challenger Herschel Walker by a 49% to 47% margin with Election Day less than a week away. Sen. Warnock’s lead is within the 3% margin of error poll of 1,000 likely Georgia voters conducted on Oct. 28-31.
The poll also showed the Senate race debates hurt Mr. Walker more than Sen. Warnock. Of the respondents, 42% said the opinion of Mr. Walker was worse, 35% said it was worse for Sen. Warnock.
The same poll also showed a comfortable 52% to 46% lead for Gov. Kemp over Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams.
“Gender is a key factor in the Georgia races for governor and Senate,” said Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling. “In the Senate race, Warnock’s 15-point lead with women is directly challenged by Walker’s 14-point lead in men.
In a release, the Emerson poll said, “However, in the governor’s race, Stacey Abrams’ 7-point advantage with women is overshadowed by Brian Kemp’s 23-point lead with men – more than a three-to-one advantage.”
As for issues, the poll found the economy was most important for 46% of those surveyed. Of those who said that the economy was their most important issue, 75% plan to vote for Mr. Walker.
According to the poll, disapproval of President Joe Biden was 52% among the 1,000 Georgia likely voters surveyed.
