Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, D-Pa., is the choice candidate in the Pennsylvania Senate race over Trump-endorsed Dr. Mehmet Oz, according to recent polls that indicate how voters feel about the two dueling candidates two months ahead of the November election.
A CBS News/YouGov survey suggests that Oz is five percentage points behind Democrat opponent Fetterman, who has 52% support.
According to the poll, 54% of Oz supporters said they were only supporting him because they do not want Fetterman to get elected, with only 15% saying he has their vote because they want him to be the Senator.
The majority of voters believe that Oz would best handle the economy, and 80% of registered Pennsylvanians saying that the economy a very important midterm issue. On Tuesday, the consumer price index report revealed that annual inflation had risen to 8.3% in August, just weeks after the economy entered into a technical recession following two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth.
More than half (56%) the respondents to the poll listed abortion as a very important issue; but among those who responded that abortion was critical in Pennsylvania Senate the race, 70% favored Fetterman. Following the overturning of Roe v Wade, 55% of Democrats in the state said they are more likely to vote for Fetterman.
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Fifty-seven percent think that Fetterman says what he truly thinks, whereas 71% think Oz only says what he thinks voters want to hear.
According to the poll, 67% of voters in the Keystone State think that Oz has not been in Pennsylvania long enough to understand its residents and the issues. Fifty-percent said they like how Fetterman handles himself and 35% approve of Oz’s behavior.
Fetterman suffered a stroke in May, but according to the poll, 59% of Pennsylvanians believe Fetterman is healthy enough to be senator. Among Republicans, 4 in 10 think that he is also in good enough health to take office.
Fifty-seven percent of Republicans think it is very important that the Senate candidates debate before November’s election, compared to 30% of Democrats would like to see them debate. Fetterman recently agreed to a debate with Oz.
President Biden received a 42% job approval rating among Pennsylvanians.
In the race for governor, Attorney General Josh Shapiro received 55% support over Doug Mastriano’s 44%.
In a Monmouth University poll Wednesday, Fetterman was also leading the race over Oz, with 49% of Pennsylvanians plan on definitely or probably voting for him over 39% support for Oz.
The CBS/YouGov poll was conducted from Sept. 6-12, 2022, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.