Democrats Fetterman and Shapiro hold slim leads in Pennsylvania: poll

Pennsylvania Democrats are holding on to slim leads in the state’s closely watched gubernatorial and Senate races, according to new polling. 

A Trafalgar Group poll found that Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D), who is running against celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz (R) for Senate, and state Attorney General Josh Shapiro (D), who is facing Doug Mastriano (R) in the race for governor, were leading in their midterm match-ups.

Fetterman was up by nearly 5 points in the Senate race, earning 48.4 percent to Oz’s 43.5 percent, while Shapiro garnered 48.6 percent in the state’s gubernatorial race, about 4 points higher than Mastriano’s 44.7 percent.

Both Republican candidates have been endorsed by former President Trump, who is set to rally for the pair in Pennsylvania this September. 

The former president lost the swing state to President Biden in the 2020 presidential election — after winning it in 2016 over then-Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton. 

Seeking to replace retiring Sen. Pat Toomey (R), Fetterman and Oz have waged a social media war against one another.

Last week, the Democrat fundraised half a million dollars after a campaign video of Oz mispronouncing the name of a grocery store went viral.

TV’s “Dr. Oz,” in turn, has knocked Fetterman’s liberal policies and pitched himself as “a Conservative Republican to cure what’s wrong with Washington” and “cure our country’s ills.”

In the gubernatorial race, a group of Pennsylvania Republicans, including former Rep. Charlie Dent, endorsed Shapiro over their own party’s nominee in July. Dent called Mastriano “an extremist who is a threat to the rule of law and the constitutional order.”

But eight of nine Pennsylvania GOP congressmen jointly endorsed Mastriano earlier this month, calling the Republican “a better option and alternative” to Shapiro. 

Conducted Aug. 15 to 18, the Trafalgar Group survey polled 1,096 likely 2022 general election voters. The margin of error was 2.9 percentage points.