Will Walker abortion payment allegations have an impact on Georgia Senate race?
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Both parties are looking at Georgia’s Senate race as one that could decide the balance of power in the United States Senate.
Recent abortion payment allegations against Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker are making headlines, but will it impact how Georgians vote in November?
“Certainly with all the big bombs that have already dropped about Walker in the Walker-Warnock [race], I think that people developed a little bit of campaign resilience to bad news and big bombs,” said Republican strategist and consultant, Leo Smith.
Smith said in today’s hyper-partisan political environment, new allegations against Walker are unlikely to have an impact on strong Republican and Democratic voters.
“But for independents, it might, it may, in a close race such as this, it could make a difference,” said Smith. “This is a huge no doubt, especially since he’s a strong,banti abortion candidate. He’s been campaigning on that issue. But he’s also spent a lot recently on the economic issues, inflation.”
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Kennesaw State Political Science professor Ben Taylor agrees on the impact these allegations could have on independent voters.
“Those moderate, independents that are relatively infrequent voters, they may vote in big elections like this, or they may vote in every other election, those are the kinds where the information is going to matter because they don’t know much about the candidates, they’re not strong partisans so information like this is going to cut through,” said Taylor.
A recent poll among registered voters shows a tight race between Walker and incumbent Democrat Senator Raphael Warnock.
“We’re talking about the narrowest possible margin in the U.S. Senate right now,” said CBS Congressional Correspondent Scott MacFarlane.
He said the balance of power in the U.S. Senate could hinge on a few key states, including Georgia, which makes every revelation in this U.S. Senate race that much more interesting to potential voters.
“That’s one reason there’s so much outside interest in the Georgia Senate race, but revelations the likes of which we haven’t seen before, only add to the outside interest,” said MacFarlane.
Warnock and Warnock will face off in the first and only debate on October 14th in Savannah.
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