New polling done by Public Policy Polling (PPP) over September 12-13, indicates the Kansas race is a dead heat, with Laura Kelly and Kris Kobach knotted up as we get closer to the arrival of advanced ballots.
From the poll:
Q5 The candidates for Governor this November are Democrat Laura Kelly, Republican Kris Kobach, Independent Greg Orman, Libertarian Jeff Caldwell, and independent candidate Rick Kloos. If the election were today, who would you vote for?
Laura Kelly 38%
Kris Kobach 39%
Greg Orman 9%
Jeff Caldwell 1%
Rick Kloos 2%
Not sure 12%
The polling closely resembles data done by KNEA a month ago, showing a clear race between two candidates, while Independent Greg Orman struggles to find an audience, hovering below 10%. The poll contains a lot of good news for Kelly, on a day where good news was everywhere to be found.
The polling data continues to show that Laura Kelly remains the only candidate on the ballot with higher favorability than unfavorability, with Kris Kobach leading the unfavorable field — 47% of those polled have an unfavorable view of the Republican candidate.
In an announcement today, covered by the Topeka Capital-Journal, Laura Kelly brought out 27 more prominent Republicans in an endorsement of her candidacy:
Kelly’s campaign has recruited GOP members to broaden the Topeka state senator’s appeal across party lines and undercut both Republican nominee Kris Kobach and independent Greg Orman.
Members of the group of 27 Republicans joining Kelly also endorsed Democrat Paul Davis in the 2014 campaign won by incumbent Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican. In both contests, dissident Republicans expressed common ground on issues of health care, education, jobs and the economy.
In the end, reasonable Republicans worry about the path that Secretary Kris Kobach is advocating for the state.
In multiple polls throughout the year, the results have remained similar: Kobach and Kelly in a tight race, with Orman as a distant spoiler. This led Wint Winters, one of the early supporters of Orman’s campaign in 2014 for the US Senate, to call on Orman to stand down:
Former Sen. Wint Winter Jr., who also signed on for Kelly, said he backed Orman’s campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2014, but decided Kelly had the best opportunity to defeat Kobach in November. Winter said Orman’s candidacy was helping Kobach.
“I have a message for Greg. Kansans know Kris Kobach is a terrifying prospect for our state — worse than Sam Brownback in so many ways. Greg should not risk the future of our state to advance his political goals,” Winter said.
Full polling data is available here.