OnPolitics: What do PA voters think about Fetterman after debate?

Amy Nakamura and Caren Bohan, USA TODAY
·4 min read
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Greetings, OnPolitics readers! It's Amy with today's top stories.

Democratic Senate nominee John Fetterman said debating his GOP competitor Dr. Mehmet Oz "wasn't exactly easy."

Did it hurt him with PA voters? Politics Managing Editor Caren Bohan writes:

Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman's debate performance last week was bumpy enough that even some of his fellow Democrats questioned whether it made sense for him to go toe-to-toe on stage with the GOP's Dr. Mehmet Oz.

Five months after suffering a stroke, Fetterman has had lingering auditory processing difficulties.

When he took the debate stage on Oct. 25, he used closed captioning to be able to read questions before giving a response and he sometimes struggled to formulate his sentences.

Fetterman himself acknowledged a day after the debate that it "wasn't exactly easy."

But what did Pennsylvania voters think?

In a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll, more than half of those surveyed said they watched the debate and those who did viewed Oz as the winner by a huge margin, 62%-17%

As USA Today Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page reports, 7% of those now backing other Senate candidates or who were undecided said they would have backed Fetterman were it not for his stroke.

The poll underlined a close race in one of the most closely watched battleground states in the Nov. 8 midterms, with Fetterman at 47% and Oz at 45%. In a September poll, Fetterman had a larger lead of six percentage points.

In the race for Pennsylvania governor, Democrat Josh Shapiro is faring much better. He leads Republican Doug Mastriano, 52%-40%.

The poll of 500 Pennsylvanians who are likely to vote or have already cast their ballots, taken by landline and cell phone on Oct. 27-30, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.

📉 Exclusive poll:Debate erodes Fetterman's lead over Oz in pivotal Pennsylvania Senate race

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In case you missed Ohio's Senate town hall:

Ohio's U.S. Senate candidates took the national stage Tuesday to tackle issues from inflation to immigration as the competitive race nears the finish line.

Republican J.D. Vance and Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan participated in a town hall in Columbus hosted by Fox News. Unlike previous debates, the candidates did not appear on stage together and separately fielded questions from moderators and audience members. Here are some takeaways from Tuesday's town hall.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What do Pennsylvania voters think about Fetterman after debate?