Walker holds razor-thin lead on Warnock in latest Georgia Senate race: poll

(The Hill) – Georgia Republican candidate Herschel Walker holds a thin, 2-point lead in his race against incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) for a seat in the upper chamber, according to a poll released Tuesday.

An Emerson College poll found Walker in the lead with 46 percent support compared to Warnock’s 44 percent support among “very likely general election voters” in Georgia who responded to the question of which candidate they would pick if the 2022 midterm election was held today.

Walker also bested Warnock's favorability rating, garnering 50 percent favorability to Warnock's 47 percent.

But despite Walker’s edge, over half of the Georgia voters (53 percent) surveyed said they expect Warnock to win, while 47 percent think Walker will flip the seat.

In addition, 41 percent surveyed said their opinion of Warnock was "very favorable" compared to 27 percent who said the same about Walker.

Walker was endorsed by former President Trump and easily won Georgia's GOP primary. But recently, he's faced tougher polling numbers against Warnock.

Walker is ahead by 34 points among rural voters, while Warnock is ahead by 41 points among urban voters. The suburban vote is closer, with Walker ahead by 9 points.

According to the poll, the top issue among Georgia voters is the economy, including jobs, inflation and taxes, at 36 percent, followed by abortion access (20 percent) and crime (15 percent). 

In the Senate hypothetical, another 4 percent of respondents said they’d vote for a candidate other than Walker or Warnock, and 7 percent said they were undecided.

Over half of undecided voters (52 percent) said the economy was the most important issue facing the state.

The poll was conducted Aug. 28-29 and surveyed 600 Georgia voters, weighted by gender, education, race and region. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.