Justine Brooke Murray, DCNF

Democrat candidates for Georgia’s gubernatorial and senatorial races are trailing behind their Republican challengers, according to a recent poll.

Republican senatorial candidate Herschel Walker is leading incumbent Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock in support by two points, 46%-44%, in Georgia while Democrat candidate Stacey Abrams is lagging four points, 49%-45%, behind incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in the gubernatorial election, according to a poll released by Emerson College on Tuesday. This is the first poll showing Walker ahead of Warnock since President Joe Biden announced on Aug. 24 that he will forgive $10,000 in student loan debt for most borrowers and cancel $20,000 for Pell grant recipients.

While several recent polls showed Warnock leading Walker, the last poll tracked by RealClearPolitics was released over a month ago.

Still, 53% of voters believe Warnock will defeat Walker in November, according to Emerson College.

Both Warnock and Abrams have praised Biden’s announcement on student loan forgiveness. Abrams is promising her voters free technical college, while Warnock took credit for “pushing” Biden to cancel student debt.

“Senator Warnock met with President Biden in the oval office and urged him to take swift action to address student debt. Last Friday, Senator Warnock spoke with senior White House officials and urged them to provide additional relief for the borrowers who struggle the most with debt, including Pell grant recipients,” his office wrote in a statement.

Emerson poll in GEORGIA — conducted entirely after Biden student loan relief rollout — shows Herschel Walker pulling ahead of Raphael Warnock.

Warnock the main swing-state Dem senator supportive of the Biden plan.

— Josh Kraushaar (@JoshKraushaar) August 30, 2022

In Georgia’s congressional races, 51% of voters surveyed plan to vote for the Republican candidate while 46% plan to vote for the Democratic candidate on the ballot, Emerson College reported.

Meanwhile, 57% of likely voters surveyed in Georgia disapprove of the Job Biden is doing, Emerson added. former President Trump leads Biden 51% to 46% in a hypothetical 2024 presidential election.

However, a group of younger voters surveyed still support both Warnock and Abrams at 63% each, despite giving the lowest approval ratings for Biden with 34% approving of his job and 66% disapproving.

Emerson College surveyed 600 very likely general election voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

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