PITTSBURGH — The good news for Republican Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race is that voters in the state — according to a new poll — care most about economic issues, inflation and rising costs, which have been staples of the national GOP agenda ahead of a midterm election that’s largely a referendum on current Democratic control.
The bad news for Oz? Voters seem to trust his Democratic opponent, John Fetterman, more on those key issues and generally hold a more favorable view of the lieutenant governor, the poll found.
The topline of the Monmouth University Poll released Wednesday — sampling 605 registered voters in Pennsylvania — is that 49% of those surveyed said they would definitely or probably vote for Fetterman in November, compared to 39% for Oz.
More than half of the surveyed voters view Oz unfavorably (52%), while more voters view Fetterman favorably (47%) than unfavorably (42%). The poll found that 36% view Oz favorably, which is lower than the percentage of surveyed voters who said they view former President Donald Trump favorably (43%).
“Fetterman has the edge when you look at basic candidate preferences,” Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, said in a statement. “Oz will need to overcome his personal negatives or shift the issue picture to stay competitive.”
As for the issues, 52% of respondents said that concerns about the economy and cost of living are more important when deciding their vote for U.S. Senate, compared to 38% who said they care more about fundamental rights and the democratic process.
But on jobs, the economy and cost of living, 41% said they trust Fetterman more, while 36% deemed Oz more trustworthy.
According to the poll, Fetterman is also seen as more trustworthy on “defending your values” (43% to 34%), abortion (44% to 26%) and gun control (40% to 30%).
Fetterman and Oz tied at 34% on who is more trustworthy on immigration.
“The economy is an issue which could help Oz, but Fetterman currently has enough crossover appeal to negate it,” Murray said in a statement. “In fact, the poll shows Fetterman is running stronger than the Democratic fundamentals in Pennsylvania would suggest.”
Registered voters that were surveyed in the Monmouth Poll — which was conducted Sept. 8-12 — held a mostly pessimistic view on the state of the country, with 70% saying the country is on the wrong track. That’s compared with 24% who said the U.S. is going in the right direction.
Asked if they’d rather see Republicans or Democrats control Congress, 40% of respondents said Republicans and 38% said Democrats.
The poll’s margin for error is plus or minus 4 percentage points. From a random sampling of voters drawn from a list of active registrants, the pollster ended up surveying 294 Democrats, 241 Republicans and 70 others.
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