Poll shows gap closing between Washington Sen. Patty Murray, Republican challenger
Feb 22, 2022, 12:17 PM | Updated: 12:46 pm
Washington Sen. Patty Murray. (Getty Images)
(Getty Images)
A poll conducted last week found that incumbent Washington Senator Patty Murray’s lead over Republican challenger Tiffany Smiley has dwindled slightly since 2021.
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The survey was conducted by Public Policy Polling on behalf of the Northwest Progressive Institute (NPI), comprised of 700 likely 2022 voters. Roughly 38% identified as Democrats, 38% identified as independent, and 24% identified as Republicans.
Of those surveyed, 50% said they would vote for Sen. Murray if the election were being held today, while 41% supported Smiley. Another 9% said they were not sure. In a previous pair of polls for the NPI conducted in 2021, Smiley received 37% of support, having now gained four points since then.
While the gap between the two candidates has closed, the poll also found that Murray’s approval rating has remained largely the same since late 2021, having sat consistently around 46%.
A previous poll from Crosscut/Elway produced significantly tighter margins in Murray’s bid for re-election, albeit without asking respondents to identify an individual Republican candidate. Of the 400 voters it surveyed, 42% said that they would vote for Sen. Murray, 39% said they would vote for a Republican, and 19% were undecided. A KING 5/Survey USA poll conducted last October found that 49% of respondents supported Murray, while 31% were behind Smiley.
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Murray was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992, with her strongest challenge coming from Republican Dino Rossi in 2010, where she won by a 52% to 48% margin. Most recently, she won reelection in 2016 over Republican Chris Vance by a wider 59% to 41% gap.
Smiley is one of nine candidates — and two Republicans — who have filed to run against Murray in 2022. Her campaign website describes how she grew up on a farm in Washington, later becoming a triage nurse. In 2005, she left her career as a nurse to care for her husband, who had sustained serious injuries serving in the U.S. Army in Iraq.
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