Warnock leads Walker by 2 points in Georgia Senate poll

Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) leads his Republican challenger, former NFL star Herschel Walker, by 2 percentage points among likely voters, a small gap that falls within the margin of error, according to a new East Carolina University poll.

The poll found Warnock garnered the support of 49 percent of likely voters, compared to Walker’s 47 percent. Three percent were undecided, and nearly 2 percent said they would vote for another candidate.

The survey is the latest showing a tight race, which is seen as a critical contest in determining control of the Senate.

Even if Warnock does hold a slight lead, he will face Walker again in a runoff election on Dec. 6 if no candidate receives a majority of votes, as the poll suggests.

About 56 percent of respondents indicated they believe Warnock will win the contest, compared to 44 percent who viewed Walker as the likely winner.

In the state’s gubernatorial contest, incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp (R) led Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams by 7 points, garnering 51 percent support to Abrams’s 44 percent.

Those figures are in line with other recent surveys, which generally show Kemp with a slight lead and often crossing the majority threshold required to avoid a runoff.

Kemp narrowly avoided a runoff in 2018 when he faced Abrams, and the two are now headed for a rematch after the state flipped blue in the 2020 presidential election, the first time it did so in nearly 30 years.

But this year, Democrats are facing a worse political environment for the party, largely bogged down by high inflation, and surveys indicate Kemp is favored to win reelection.

President Biden’s approval rating in Georgia clocked in at just 39 percent in the poll, while nearly 56 percent of voters expressed disapproval.

Most of the likely voters who expressed disapproval over Biden’s job performance support the state’s Republican nominees.

Eighty-four percent of those disapproving respondents supported Walker and 89 percent supported Kemp, the poll found.

The poll was conducted from Oct. 13 to Oct. 18 with 905 likely voters in Georgia. The credibility interval, which is similar to a poll’s margin of error, is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.

–Updated at 12:31 p.m.