A week before Election Day, Kansas Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and Republican Attorney General Derek Schmidt remain essentially tied in the race for governor, according to a new poll released Wednesday.
Kelly leads Schmidt 46% to 43%, a 1% improvement on the lead Emerson found in its September poll. However, the lead still falls within the margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points for the poll conducted by Emerson College Polling and The Hill.
The poll found that state Sen. Dennis Pyle, an independent running to Schmidt’s right, has support among 5% of voters. Another 5% of voters remained undecided.
Pollsters surveyed 1,000 very likely voters from Oct. 27-29. The poll was paid for by Nexstar Media Group, which owns The Hill and several TV stations in Kansas and Missouri, including Fox 4 in Kansas City and KSNW in Wichita.
In the final weeks of the campaign, Schmidt has taken steps to drive up engagement among conservative supporters and appeal to voters on the right who may be tempted to support Pyle.
Meanwhile, Kelly has focused on presenting herself as “middle of the road,” promoting support she’s gained among prominent Kansas Republicans and focusing on education and budget issues.
The poll found that Kelly had gained support among 18% of Republicans and 49% of independents, in addition to 90% of Democrats. Schmidt gained support among 72% of Republicans, 34% of independents and 4% of Democrats.
Half of Kansas voters cited the economy as the most important issue, followed by threats to democracy at 14%, abortion access at 10% and healthcare at 7%.
Schmidt’s campaign manager, C.J. Grover, dismissed the poll as inaccurate.
“Despite the millions of dollars Democrats have spent on dark-money lies about Derek Schmidt and dishonest tactics to prop up a third-party spoiler, and despite the media’s determination to suppress the Republican vote with inaccurate polling like this, Kansans won’t fall for it and will elect Derek Schmidt governor on Nov. 8,” Grover said in a statement.
Campaign finance reports filed Monday showed Kelly had outraised Schmidt by nearly $1.5 million between late July and late October. However, the Republican Governors Association spent roughly $8 million on Schmidt’s behalf in that period.
The Kansas Values Institute, a 501c4 aligned with the Democratic Governors Association, has spent $13.1 million on advertisements throughout the entire campaign.
Kelly’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Emerson also surveyed the races for Kansas attorney general and U.S. Senate. The poll found Democrat Chris Mann leading former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the Republican, by just 1 percentage point in the race for attorney general with 44% support compared to Kobach’s 43% in the poll.
Republican Sen. Jerry Moran’s is leading Democrat Mark Holland, the former mayor of Kansas City, Kansas, and Wyandotte County, 54% to 33%.
