Kentucky governor’s race now in dead heat: New poll

Support between Gov. Andy Beshear (D) and state Attorney General Daniel Cameron (R) in the Kentucky gubernatorial race is tied, according to a poll released Friday.  

An Emerson College Polling survey found Beshear and Cameron tied at 47 percent, with 4 percent of respondents saying they were undecided and 2 percent saying someone else.  

The poll noted that the match-up shifts to Cameron receiving 49 percent and Beshear receiving 48 percent when undecided voters are asked whom they’re leaning toward.  

Beshear is fighting for a second term in office after narrowly winning his first term in 2019 against then-Gov. Matt Bevin (R), who was seen as popular in the state. Cameron, who has been endorsed by former President Trump, has sought to hit the Kentucky Democrat on COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and transgender-related legislation that Beshear vetoed. 

But Beshear has been buoyed by unusually strong approval ratings for a red-state Democrat, with a Morning Consult poll released this week showing him at 60 percent, and he has sought to put Cameron on defense on the issue of abortion. 

“Cameron appears to have gained ground by consolidating Republican voters who supported former President Donald Trump in the 2020 election. In October, 54% of Trump supporters supported Cameron; now, as election day approaches, that number has jumped to 79% – a 25-point increase,” said Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling. 

“Notably, October’s poll was of registered voters in Kentucky, while this final election poll includes only those who are very likely or have already voted in Kentucky,” he added. 

The Emerson College Polling survey was conducted between Oct. 30 and Nov. 2, with 1,000 likely voters or those who had already voted surveyed. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.