OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Control for the U.S. Senate could all come down to the state of Georgia.
A new poll from Quinnipiac found that former NFL player and Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker not only received 81 percent support for the GOP primary, he also has an edge over Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock.
In a hypothetical matchup for U.S. Senate in Georgia, voters give Walker 49 percent and Warnock 48 percent.
Warnock won a Senate special runoff election in 2021 by 2 percentage points, and now he’s arguably one of the most vulnerable senators headed into the midterms.
The poll found:
Voters have a mixed opinion of Warnock: 44 percent favorable, 42 percent unfavorable, and 13 percent haven’t heard enough.
Voters have a favorable opinion of Walker: 42 percent favorable, 27 percent unfavorable, and 30 percent haven’t heard enough.
“Asked to choose the most urgent issue facing Georgia today, inflation (23 percent) and election laws (22 percent) top the list, followed by COVID-19 (13 percent) and crime (11 percent). There are sharp divides along party lines,” Quinnipiac reported.
“Among Republicans, the most urgent issues are inflation (34 percent), election laws (18 percent), and crime (16 percent). Among Democrats, the most urgent issues are election laws (31 percent), COVID-19 (19 percent), followed by inflation (9 percent), and racial inequality (9 percent),” the polling group added.
New polling in Georgia: Herschel Walker would beat incumbent Raphael Warnock. https://t.co/bcDTWNcYAn
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) January 26, 2022
A staggering sum: Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock has amassed a $23M warchest for his reelection bid #gapol #gasen https://t.co/OEYcLzwXX8
— Greg Bluestein (@bluestein) January 26, 2022
Walker, with the backing of Donald Trump, has raised nearly $10 million in his quest to defeat Warnock in the November midterms.
In an interview with Fox News, Walker said his campaign has raised millions between August 2021 when he announced his candidacy, and the end of the year.
Newsmax reported: “During the October-December fourth fundraising quarter, Walker’s campaign also reported $5.4 million in contributions from 44,364 individual donors from across all 50 states.”
“As we travel all over the Peach State, we are meeting thousands of hardworking Georgians who are fed up with the direction our country is headed,” Walker said in a statement. “Though I have been blessed with many amazing opportunities, running for U.S. Senate to represent my home state is the greatest honor and privilege of my life.”
Scott Paradise, Walker’s campaign manager, claimed that “this massive fundraising haul, likely the largest in the country for a non-incumbent, shows that Georgia Republicans are clearly united behind Herschel Walker and are ready to take on Sen. Warnock.”
“The pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Martin Luther King Jr. once preached, Warnock has yet to file his fourth-quarter fundraising numbers, but he brought in $9.5 million during the July-September third quarter of fundraising and reported more than $17.2 million at the beginning of October, according to Fox,” Newsmax reported.
1ST AND $10 MILLION: Sports icon @HerschelWalker is frontrunner to face off in November against Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock. https://t.co/ZcUzZwvpOg pic.twitter.com/Jb96pHeip7
— Fox News (@FoxNews) January 26, 2022
Walker’s rise to the top of the Georgia GOP began early — months before he announced his candidacy.
In March, his name surged after Donald Trump encouraged him to run. A survey from the Trafalgar Group found that Walker, who has never run for office, would beat Warnock.
“Wouldn’t it be fantastic if the legendary Herschel Walker ran for the United States Senate in Georgia?” Trump said. “He would be unstoppable, just like he was when he played for the Georgia Bulldogs, and in the NFL. He is also a GREAT person. Run Herschel, run!”
