HENDERSON, Ky. (WEHT) – In a new survey, Emerson College Polling says that incumbent Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear currently holds a 16-point lead, with 49% support in the upcoming November gubernatorial election.
His chief opponent, Attorney General Daniel Cameron, currently holds 33% support. Of the remaining participants in the survey, 5% say they would vote for someone else and 13% are undecided.
“Governor Beshear not only holds the majority of Democratic voters’ support at 85%, but also 44% of independent voters’ support and 28% of Republican voters’ support,” says Spencer Kimball, Executive Director of Emerson College Polling. “Cameron has a weaker base of support within his own party with 53%, and trails Beshear among independent voters with 25%.”
Emerson says Governor Beshear currently holds a 44% approval rating among Kentucky voters, with both disapproving and neutral voters both at 28%. Polling officials noted the stark contrast with their polling numbers for President Joe Biden, with the prevailing attitude among Kentucky voters being a 62% disapproval rate against a 22% rate of approval.
“While Biden is an unpopular figure among Kentucky voters, Beshear has been able to separate himself from the president,” notes Kimball. “He holds a 66% approval rating within his own party, and a 34% approval among both independent and Republican voters.”
In a hypothetical matchup between former President Trump and President Biden for the 2024 presidential election, Trump currently holds a 29-point lead among Kentucky voters, with 55% support to Biden’s 26%. Another 12% say they’d vote for someone else and 7% are undecided.
Trump and Biden voters were also asked if there is anything that their preferred candidates could say or do in the coming months that might make them change their support. In both surveys, the majority of supporters said there was nothing that could change their minds.
Emerson Polling also asked Kentucky voters they believed the winning candidates in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections won fair and square, or if the elections were stolen. 66% of voters said they believed Trump won fairly in 2016, while a 47% plurality believed the 2020 election was stolen.
“Kentucky voters who voted for Trump in 2020 overwhelmingly think the 2020 election was stolen by Biden at 72%,” says Kimball. “Biden 2020 voters are more split in their public opinion toward Trump’s win in 2016: 39% think Trump won fair and square while 37% think it was stolen.”
Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor, Robby Mills, notes that the Emerson Organization missed the Kentucky Primary results by 15 points.
