Republican Mehmet Oz holds a 2-point lead over Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman in the Pennsylvania race for Senate, with roughly half saying Mr. Fetterman’s shaky debate performance worsened their view of his candidacy.
The Emerson College Polling/The Hill survey has Mr. Oz leading, 48% to 46%.
Mr. Oz has gained 5 points of support since September while Mr. Fetterman has gained 1, and 4% of voters remain undecided.
Mr. Fetterman held a polling lead through much of the race as he hammered Mr. Oz for recently moving to Pennsylvania after being a longtime New Jersey resident.
Yet the race has tightened amid concerns about Mr. Fetterman’s recovery from a stroke in the spring. The Democrat says he is healthy enough to serve but the situation required using captions for auditory processing issues.
“Of those who say they have heard, seen, or read a lot about the debate, Oz leads Fetterman 55% to 41%,” said Spencer Kimball, executive director of the Emerson Poll. “Among those who have heard, seen, or read only a little or nothing about the debate, Fetterman leads 56% to 28%.”
In another critical race, Democratic Attorney General Josh Shapiro leads Republican state Sen. Doug Mastriano, 50% and 41%, in the race for governor.
Notably, about 9% of those who plan to vote for Mr. Shapiro plan to split their ticket and vote for Mr. Oz.
Women voters support Mr. Shapiro by a 13-point margin and only a 4-point margin for Mr. Fetterman.
Men favor Mr. Shapiro by 3 points and Mr. Oz by 10 points.
The poll was conducted from Oct. 28-31 among 1,000 ver likely voters with a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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