A new poll released Sunday shows Trump-endorsed candidate Mehmet Oz with a strong lead over other GOP candidates in the Pennsylvania U.S. Senate primary.
The Emerson College Poll of very likely Republican primary voters shows Oz leading with 28% among likely GOP voters, political commentator Kathy Barnette with 24%, and David McCormick with 21%. Fifteen percent say they are undecided, though support for Oz increased to 32% in that scenario.
Former Danish ambassador Carla Sands received 7% and Jeff Bartos received 6% in the poll.
The poll suggests that Barnette has begun to recede as voters prepare go to the polls this Tuesday in one of the country’s most contested Senate races.
Barnette, who is African-American, rose quickly in the polls as she shared her personal story of surviving a potential abortion.
But conservatives became wary when Barnette’s previous comments surfaced, including her support of BLM protests over George Floyd.
Barnette also called for erecting a statue of Barack Obama, while deriding George Washington as a “slave owner.”
Former President Donald Trump, who has strongly backed Oz, waded into the fray, claiming Barnette was not “vetted” and many of her positions were “not properly explained.”
“Kathy Barnette will never be able to win the General Election against the Radical Left Democrats,” Trump said in a statement issued last week.
“Dr. Oz is the only one who will be able to easily defeat the Crazed, Lunatic Democrat in Pennsylvania.”
In recent days Barnette has been invited on Newsmax and several media to clarify her statements, but has declined to do so.
The poll of 1,000 Republican primary voters was conducted May 14-15. The poll has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
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