What Polls Say About Joe Lombardo, Adam Laxalt Ahead of Nevada Trump Rally

Recent polls show the candidates running for U.S. Senate and governor in Nevada are locked in tight races as former President Donald Trump is scheduled to arrive in the state on Saturday to stump for the GOP contenders.

While the races are close, polling averages from FiveThirtyEight show the Republican challengers have slight advantages over the Democratic incumbents.

According to FiveThirtyEight, in the Senate race, Republican candidate Adam Laxalt, a former attorney general for the state, is polling ahead of incumbent Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto by 1.5 percent. Laxalt has support from 45.6 percent of voters, while Cortez Masto has 44.1 percent. Meanwhile in the governor's race, Democratic Governor Steve Sisolak is behind his challenger Joe Lombardo, the Clark County sheriff. Lombardo, a Republican, has 44.3 percent support from voters while Sisolak has 43.7 percent.

With only 30 days left until the midterms, Trump will be holding a "Save America" rally in Minden, Nevada, on Saturday and will be joined by Lombardo and Laxalt, who he has endorsed in their respective races.

A poll from CNN released on Thursday shows that 48 percent of voters say they would vote for Laxalt, while 46 percent say they would vote Cortez Masto. The CNN poll shows the same results for the governors race with 48 percent saying they'd back Lombardo, and 46 percent saying they support Sisolak. The survey has a margin of error of 5 percent and contacted 828 likely voters.

Another poll from the Nevada Independent released on October 2 found similar results: Laxalt led Cortez Masto 45 to 43 percent, while Lombardo led Sisolak 45 to 42 percent. The poll had a margin of error of 3.6 percent and surveyed 741 likely voters.

In a statement to Newsweek on Saturday morning, Laxalt said that polls "capture what we are seeing on the ground here in Nevada."

"Between surging inflation, rising violent crime, the effects of an open border, and record-high gas prices, Nevadans are fed up with Cortez Masto being a 95% rubber stamp vote for Joe Biden. I'm a former Navy and Iraq veteran and law enforcement-endorsed top cop of the State. Nevadans of all political parties are backing my race because they know I will always put them first," Laxalt said.

However, one recent poll, conducted by SSRS for CNN, showed that Cortez Masto is ahead of her Republican rival with the support of 47 percent of registered voters compared to 44 percent to Laxalt. The survey was carried out between September 26 and October 2 "using a combination of online and telephone interviews," with 926 voters in the state. The survey has a margin of error of 4.7 percent.

Newsweek has also reached out to the Cortez Masto, Sisolak and Lombardo campaigns for comment.

Could Biden's Low Popularity in Key Swing States Cause Issues for Democrats?

A recent poll found that President Joe Biden has a lower popularity rating in some key swing states ahead of the November midterm elections, including in Nevada, which could make it more difficult for Democratic candidates to win their races.

While Biden won the state in 2020, a survey conducted by Civiqs found that 38 percent of Nevada voters said that they approve of Biden's presidency while 54 percent said they disapprove.

"President Biden's low approval makes it hard to persuade undecideds to vote for Democrats and makes it difficult to rally Democrats." Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston, told Newsweek.