Herschel Walker Appears to Be Closing Gap Despite Recent Scandals: Poll

Recent polling shows that a litany of scandals—including allegations he paid for an ex-girlfriend's abortion—appear to have done little to damper Republican Herschel Walker's chances of becoming Georgia's newest U.S. senator.

A poll of Georgia voters completed three days after reports broke found Walker and his Democratic opponent, Senator Raphael Warnock, statistically tied despite scandals dogging the 1982 Heisman Trophy-winning former NFL star since the start of the campaign.

With less than one month until election day, pollsters with the University of Georgia found Walker within three points of Warnock—numbers that mirror internal polling numbers shared by the campaign to NBC News on Wednesday morning.

"In plain English," the pollsters wrote, "the U.S. Senate race is a dead heat."

There are caveats, however. Atlanta Journal-Constitution politics reporter Greg Bluestein noted in a write-up of the report that many of the poll's responses were recorded before the October 4 scandal broke, meaning voter attitudes could have changed. And though the poll more heavily weighted conservatives in a state that has been highly contentious in recent years, the poll's demographics were a majority female.

But the scandals have not seemed to deter the Republican base. In fact, they appear to have galvanized it. Walker has seen a surge in fundraising nationally, the campaign said, including a spurt in which it reportedly raised nearly a half-million dollars in one day, mostly during a 21-minute period of the Fox News show Hannity in which South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich defended him.

"Remember [Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh?]" Graham asked on the program. "Remember how they played the game? Right at the end, they come up with some letter, take the guy, blindside him, another allegation, another allegation, trying to drive him out. Well he stood in there, and I tell you what, Herschel's gonna stand in there, too."

"Every liberal around the country is all-in to make sure Warnock wins in Georgia," he added. "We need to be all-in for Herschel."

Not all pollsters are bullish on Republicans' chances, however. A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday found that while the abortion scandal had little bearing on Walker's performance, Warnock continues to maintain a 7-point lead, buoyed by voter perceptions that Walker is dishonest and lacks leadership skills.

However, that doesn't necessarily mean Walker doesn't have a chance to win.

"With time running out to get to the metaphorical goal line of November 8th and despite repeated penalty flags flying at his honesty and integrity, Herschel Walker is down by seven in the 4th quarter and still has a shot against incumbent Raphael Warnock in Georgia's Senate race," Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy said in a statement.