McLaughlin to Newsmax: Polling Puts GOP Ahead in Key Races in Arizona, Georgia Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Blake Masters speaks at a campaign rally attended by former President Donald Trump at Legacy Sports USA in Mesa, Arizona, on Oct. 9. (Getty Images)
By Fran Beyer | Monday, 31 October 2022 10:15 AM EDT
Hispanic voters will be a big factor in tight races in Arizona and Utah, but the GOP will likely win there and in key contests in Georgia and Pennsylvania as well, pollster Jim McLaughlin said Monday.
In an interview on Newsmax's "Wake Up America," McLaughlin predicted in Arizona, where Senate and governor positions are in play, Democrats are vulnerable.
"I think it's really, really close" in Arizona's Senate race between incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly and challenger Blake Masters, McLaughlin said.
"Mark Kelly, the incumbent is only at 45% of the vote," he continued, asserting: "The vast majority of the undecided voters are going to go against the incumbent and for the challenger."
"Watch the Hispanic vote," he said. "What you're seeing in a lot of these states is the Republicans aren't just doing well with Hispanic voters — they're actually winning with Hispanic voters. And I think you're going to see the same thing on election day in Arizona for Blake Masters."
According to McLaughlin, the Arizona governor race between GOP candidate Kari Lake and Democrat Katie Hobbs illustrates Democrats' "candidate problem."
"They're all afraid to debate the Republicans," he said of the Democrats running in races including Pennsylvania and New York.
"John Fetterman [in Pennsylvania], [incumbent Gov.] Kathy Hochul in New York — they're all afraid to debate the Republicans," he said. "But we see why, when they actually have to go out there and try to debate and try to defend their failed records."
In Arizona, he added, gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs "hasn't even pretended to want a debate."
Republican Kari Lake "knows the issues. She really understands and has so much passion in her campaign that I think that's why [Hobbs] refused to debate here," he charged.
"Over the summer, the media and the Democrats were trying to tell us it was the Republicans that have the candidate problems," he added. "The truth is, it's the Democrats with the candidate problems."
McLaughlin also predicted Georgia Senate candidate and former football player Herschel Walker has an edge in the race with incumbent Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock.
"Warnock has spent tens of millions of dollars before election day – there was some reports saying he had outspent Herschel Walker on the air by about five to one," McLaughlin said. "And if you're Raphael Warnock, you're only at 43% of the vote right now, you're in real trouble."
In Utah's Senate race, he added, Republican challenger Adam Laxalt's race against incumbent Democrat Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto could also come down to the Hispanic voters.
"The polling I've been seeing, actually, Adam Laxalt is ahead. And [Joe] Lombardo, the Republican running for governor [against Democrat incumbent Steve Sisolak] is also ahead," he said.
"I think what's going to put Laxalt over the top is Hispanic voters," he predicted.
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