Poll: PA voters are largely undecided on U.S. Senate candidates

With a bevy of candidates already vying to replace outgoing Sen. Pat Toomey in 2022, Pennsylvania voters are largely undecided more than a year out from the race, according to a new poll from Franklin & Marshall College.

The poll, which surveyed 446 registered voters from Aug. 9 through Aug. 15, found that voters on both sides of the aisle have yet to make up their minds on who to support in the state’s 2022 U.S. Senate primaries. 

According to the poll, 37% of Democratic voters said they are undecided on the primary race at this point in time, while another 30% said they intend to support Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman. Fourteen percent of those surveyed favored Rep. Conor Lamb, who entered the race this month, while Montgomery County Commissioners Chair Val Arkoosh came in third with 7% and state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta followed with 6%. 

On the Republican side of the ticket, more than half of voters are currently undecided, with 63% saying they don’t know who they would vote for. Sean Parnell, a veteran and author, received the most support with 10%, while Kathy Barnette and Jeff Bartos followed with 8% and 7%, respectively. 

The poll also surveyed voters’ opinions on Gov. Tom Wolf’s job in office, with 41% rating his performance as “excellent” or “good.” That’s up from 39% in June, but down from last summer, when 52% of voters had positive views on Wolf’s work as governor. 

Voters also expressed a desire to reform the state’s redistricting process, with 63% saying the process of drawing political maps needs to be reformed. Of those polled, 65% said the state should have an independent commission draw the maps – a thought that spanned party lines, with 76% of Democrats, 69% of independents and 58% of GOP respondents supporting the idea of an independent commission.

The poll has a sample error of +/- 6.4%.