Herschel Walker Unable to Take Advantage of Red Wave Momentum, Poll Finds

The GOP has garnered a rush of momentum in the weeks leading up to Election Day, but the push seems to have stopped short of benefitting Republican Herschel Walker's race against Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock in Georgia.

Republican candidates in several key races across the nation are seeing an uptick in approval ratings, predicting a possible red wave in the midterm elections. Democrats are scrambling to help their candidates to combat those numbers. Senator Bernie Sanders rushed to Pennsylvania to help boost John Fetterman's ratings against Republican opponent Dr. Mehmet Oz. Sanders is also planning to make stops in Wisconsin and Michigan, according to an article from The New York Times.

Many polls assessing the race between Walker, a retired NFL player endorsed by former President Donald Trump, and Warnock, a reverend who is running for reelection, show that Warnock has a sparse lead over Walker, but the race remains tight.

A Monmouth University poll found that in the Peach State, Warnock has maintained his grip on his lead while Walker has a net negative favorability rating. The poll found that Warnock has a "significant lead" over Walker with early voters beginning to turn out in earnest. Walker's campaign, though, remains confident that more voters will support Walker on Election Day.

According to the poll, Warnock has a net positive rating of 51 percent favorable to 43 percent unfavorable among Georgia voters, while Walker has almost opposite numbers —a net negative rating of 43 percent favorable to 52 percent unfavorable. Walker has been unable to gain footing in some of the top issues in Georgia, such as the economy, which is the top concern for Republicans and independents. Democratic voters reported their top concerns as abortion and the economy.

Throughout his campaign, Walker has stumbled several times in these areas. In early October, a report from The Daily Beast alleged that Walker paid for a former girlfriend to have an abortion despite being a staunch pro-life candidate. Walker originally denied the allegations but later admitted he sent money to the woman but didn't know how she spent it, according to the New York Post. Walker also was criticized after flashing an honorary deputy sheriff's badge during the candidates' one and only debate later that month.

"Walker's path to victory is narrow, but it's still there," Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, said in the poll report. "He needs to get enough voters to overlook their misgivings about him to come over to his support or benefit from a turnout disparity among the two parties' base voters. At this point, the latter option looks like his better bet."

The poll shows that Georgia voters are split between Warnock and Walker on who is the best candidate to combat the downturned economy. According to the poll, 41 percent of voters responded that they would trust Warnock more with the economy and 40 percent said the same for Walker. On the topic of abortion, Warnock has nearly a double-digit lead over Walker, with 42 percent of voter approval compared to Walker's 33 percent.

"Warnock is running even with his opponent on issues that are hurting Democrats in other places," Murray said. "That's a large part of why he's still in the hunt with an electorate that tends to lean conservative."

Newsweek reached out to Walker's campaign for comment.