Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) is 10 percent ahead of Republican general election challenger Herschel Walker in a new Quinnipiac University poll of registered voters released Wednesday. Warnock had 54 percent of the support, while Walker had 44 percent — an obviously substantial difference.
In a January 2022 Quinnipiac University survey measuring voters’ opinions in the same race, Walker was actually in the lead by one percent, with 49 percent of the support, compared to 48 percent for Warnock. In the new poll, Warnock leads among women and Black voters, while Walker is in the lead with men and white voters. Warnock also leads among voters from 18 to 49 years old, who are split into two age groups in the poll. Warnock has a one percent lead with voters 50 to 64 years old, while Walker has a lead among voters who are 65 and older. Meanwhile, a significantly higher number of total respondents have a favorable opinion of Warnock than have one of Walker, and Warnock also garnered higher confidence in various personal traits relevant to serving as Senator.
A full 49 percent of voters shared a favorable view of Warnock, with 37 percent holding an unfavorable one. In contrast, more respondents indicated an unfavorable view of Walker than a favorable perspective: 37 percent had a favorable opinion of the Republican contender, and a full 42 percent viewed him unfavorably. On personal traits, 54 percent of total poll participants indicated they felt Warnock to be honest, but only 39 percent indicated the same of Walker. There was an even larger gap in what respondents thought of Warnock and Walker’s respective leadership skills: 56 percent said the Democratic incumbent has good leadership skills, but just 37 percent apparently said the same of Walker, who has Trump’s support. Slightly more respondents said they felt Walker cares about average Georgians compared to those who said the opposite. Overall, more said so of Warnock, showing voters viewing him positively.
If Warnock wins this November, he’ll have a full six-year term. At present, he’s serving the final portions of the last term of Johnny Isakson, a former Republican Senator from Georgia who resigned amid health concerns and has since died.
The new Quinnipiac University polling was conducted from June 23 through 27, only partly after the U.S. Supreme Court released its recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which means state officials can now regulate abortion according to their personal or political ambitions. Expanding the Democratic majority in Congress could allow Dems the chance to restore national protections for the right to an abortion by putting such protections into specific federal law. Roe relied on the Supreme Court’s interpretation of already established law; there was no federal measure specifically allowing abortion as the ruling did. Currently, 49 of the Senate’s 50 Democrats have expressed support for a measure called the Women’s Health Protection Act that would put abortion rights into federal law. All but two of the 50 have also indicated a willingness to make the kind of changes to the Senate’s filibuster rules that would be needed to actually pass such a measure.
New Quinnipiac poll – Georgia
Senate
Warnock (D) 54%
Walker (R) 44%Governor
Kemp (R) 48%
Abrams (D) 48%https://t.co/2HS63VHf0E— Steve Kornacki (@SteveKornacki) June 29, 2022
