In the race for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, Republican candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz is making gains on Democrat John Fetterman, according to new polling.
A few months ago, it looked like Fetterman had this race wrapped up, but he has been dogged by issues surrounding his health and record.
Also, Republican voters are starting to solidify support for Oz.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports:
Fetterman’s lead in U.S. Senate race is shrinking as Oz wins over GOP voters, latest poll showsThe U.S. Senate race between Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and Republican celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz is tightening.A Franklin & Marshall College poll released Thursday shows Mr. Oz has “significantly” improved his standing in the race since its last poll was published in August.Now, Mr. Fetterman leads him by just three points, 45% to Mr. Oz’s 42%.This increase in support can be credited to the work Mr. Oz has done to win over GOP voters and drive up negative opinions of his Democratic opponent, said Berwood Yost, the poll’s director and political science professor at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster.“It was bound to happen,” Mr. Yost said. “The gains that Oz is making primarily come from Republicans turning back to him.”
The Hill has more on this:
Oz closes on Fetterman in latest Pennsylvania Senate pollA majority of Fetterman supporters, or 61 percent, said they felt enthusiastic about their chosen candidate — while just over a third, or 38 percent, of Oz’s supporters felt the same about the Republican.Amid ongoing concerns about the Democrat’s health after he suffered a stroke shortly before his primary, 34 percent of voters in the poll said they were concerned Fetterman isn’t healthy enough to be the state’s senator, up from 23 percent who said the same in July.On the other hand, 43 percent of voters said they were concerned TV personality Oz isn’t familiar enough with Pennsylvania in order to be senator — though the count is down from 52 percent in July. Oz, who previously resided in New Jersey, has faced criticism over whether he’s in touch with the constituents he’s vying to represent.The new survey follows other recent polling that’s put Fetterman ahead of Oz by small margins as November’s midterm elections grow nearer.
One of the issues hurting Fetterman is crime, and apparently, his campaign knows this. They have deleted a section from his website devoted to Black Lives Matter.
FOX News reports:
John Fetterman wipes Black Lives Matter section from campaign site amid attacks over crimeSenate candidate John Fetterman, D-Pa., has removed mentions of Black Lives Matter from his campaign website in the last month, a review of archived webpages showed.The “issues” page on Fetterman’s website currently includes sections on inflation ,criminal justice reform, legalizing cannabis, renewable energy, immigration and several other topics, but doesn’t include any section devoted to Black Lives Matter. Archived copies of the page, though, show that as recently as Aug. 22, the same page highlighted Fetterman’s commitment to Black Lives Matter.”John served as mayor of a city that’s more than 80% Black, and has championed the idea that Black lives matter since long before it became a hashtag,” the previous version of the campaign website stated under a section titled “Black Lives Matter.”
This is still a competitive race. The big question now is when we will see a debate.
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