Beshear Up 2 Over Cameron in Close Kentucky Governor's Race
Tomorrow, one of the marquee Election Day races will be in Kentucky, where Democratic Governor Andy Beshear is seeking a second term. In the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump won Kentucky by a 25.9-point margin over Joe Biden — the former president’s ninth-largest margin of victory in the country. Both of Kentucky’s senators are also Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. However, despite the heavy red lean of the Bluegrass State, Beshear is among the most popular governors in the country.
New Data for Progress polling finds Beshear up 2 points over his Republican opponent, Daniel Cameron, the state attorney general — 50% to 48%, with 2% undecided.
Beshear wins 98% of Democrats, 44% of Independents, and 20% of Republicans, as well as voters under the age of 45 by a +14-point margin.
Among voters who say that they are voting for Beshear, 87% say that their choice represents a vote for Beshear rather than a vote against Cameron. Meanwhile, among Cameron voters, only 58% say their choice represents a vote for Cameron and 39% say it represents a vote against Beshear.
When asked what they think is the most important issue for a candidate for governor to focus on, a plurality of voters (36%) choose jobs and the economy, and this holds true across party lines. However, Democrats’ second choice is democracy and voting rights (14%), followed by abortion rights (10%), while Republicans choose corruption in government (15%) and crime and public safety (12%).
Survey Methodology
From November 1 to 2, 2023, Data for Progress conducted a survey of 660 likely voters in Kentucky using SMS and web panel respondents. The sample was weighted to be representative of likely voters by age, gender, education, race, geography, and voting history. The survey was conducted in English. The margin of error is ±4 percentage points.