Friday 19 August 2022 07:25 PM Democrat Mark Kelly takes an eight-point lead in Arizona and Ron Johnson slips ... trends now

A new poll shows Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly opening up an eight-point lead over his Trump-backed opponent Blake Masters, as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell warns Republicans might not take back the Senate.

Kelly's lead in a new Fox News poll comes as the Democratic campaign arm has already begun blasting out ads saying Masters, a venture capitalist, is 'not like normal Arizonans' and claiming he has 'dangerous beliefs and plans that are deeply out of step with the state's values.'

Kelly is considered one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the party's 50-50 majority.

Another new Fox News poll shows incumbent Republican Sen. Ron Johnson trailing his Democratic opponent, Mandela Barnes, 50 to 46 per cent. That follows a Marquette University poll that had Barnes, the state's 35-year-old lieutenant governor, up 7. 

It comes in a state that President Joe Biden won by a single percentage point, and that Donald Trump carried four years earlier. 

Johnson held a hearing on election fraud before Jan. 6th, and signed a statement saying he intended to object to votes certified for Joe Biden. The House Jan. 6th committee revealed that Johnson's chief of staff tried to deliver a slate of pro-Trump electors to Vice President Mike Pence, who was presiding over the count. Johnson brushed off the incident when it was revealed.

The polls, released Thursday evening, came on a day when  McConnell played down Republican chances of retaking the Senate with comments that focused on 'candidate quality.' 

But he made his comments at a time when many senior Republicans worry that former President Donald Trump has promoted celebrity candidates, with a high profile but no political track record, over more impressive campaigners.

'I think there’s probably a greater

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