The latest Emerson College Polling/KLAS-TV/The Hill Nevada survey finds just a third of voters (33%) approve of the job President Biden is doing; a whole 57% disapprove. Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak holds a 40% approval rating, while 48% disapprove of his job performance. Thirty-seven percent (37%) approve of the job the Supreme Court is doing, while half (50%) disapprove.
Voters’ disapproval is reflected in their perception of Nevada. A majority of voters (55%) think the state is headed down the wrong track while 45% think the state is headed in the right direction.
The US Senate election in the battleground state of Nevada is within the margin of error.
Forty-four percent (44%) of voters plan to support incumbent Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, while 41% support former Attorney General Republican Adam Laxalt. Six percent (6%) support someone else and 9% are undecided.
“Cortez Masto holds the support of minority voters in Nevada: 61% of Asian voters, 51% of Black voters, and 46% of Hispanic voters. On the other hand, Laxalt has plurality of White voters’ support at 46%,” noted Spencer Kimball, Executive Director of Emerson College Polling.
The Nevada gubernatorial election has a similar partisan split: 44% plan to support Democratic incumbent Steve Sisolak, while 40% plan to vote for Republican Joe Lombardo. Seven percent (7%) are undecided, while 9% plan to vote for someone else.
In a 2024 hypothetical matchup between President Biden and Donald Trump, the former President holds 43% of support while Biden holds 40%—thirteen percent (13%) say they would vote for someone else and 4% are undecided. In a contest between President Biden and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, DeSantis holds the same support as Trump (43%) while 38% support Biden; more voters are undecided at 8% and 11% would vote for someone else.
A plurality of Nevada voters (46%) think Trump should be charged with a crime for encouraging his supporters to march on the US capitol on January 6, 2021, while 43% think he should not be charged; 11% are unsure or had no opinion on the matter.
In the 1st Congressional District, 41% plan to vote for incumbent Democratic Representative Dina Titus, while 37% plan to support Republican Mark Robertson. Five percent (5%) plan to vote for someone else while 17% are undecided.
In the 2nd Congressional District, 46% plan to support incumbent Republican Representative Mark Amodei while 36% plan to support Democrat Elizabeth Mercades Krause. One in ten (10%) plan to vote for someone else and 8% are undecided.
In the 3rd Congressional District, voters are more split: 42% plan to vote for incumbent Democrat Susie Lee while 40% plan to support Republican April Becker. Thirteen percent (13%) are still undecided, while 5% plan to vote for someone else.
Lastly, in the 4th Congressional District, 42% support incumbent Democratic Representative Steven Horsford while 39% support Republican Sam Peters. Fifteen percent (15%) are undecided and 5% plan to support someone else.
A significant majority (62%) oppose allocating taxpayer money in the budget for a new sports stadium, similar to what was done to fund the Allegiant Stadium for the Las Vegas Raiders; 17% support allocating the funding and 21% are unsure.
The economy is the top issue facing Nevada for 34% of voters, while 16% are most concerned about the Nevada water supply, and 12% are concerned about education. A plurality of Nevada voters (42%) place most of the blame on the Biden Administration for inflation, while 16% blame supply chain disruptions, 11% blame the War in Ukraine, 9% blame government spending on COVID-19 relief, and 13% blame something else; 9% are unsure.
Regarding high gas prices, 46% of voters place most of their blame on the Biden Administration, while 30% blame price gouging by gas and oil companies. Other places of blame include gas and oil sanctions against Russia at 11%, increased demand at 4%, and Covid-19 at 2%.
On the issue of abortion. 5% think abortion should be illegal in all cases, 31% think it should be legal in special cases, 28% think it should be legal in all cases, 18% think it should be legal up to 15 weeks of pregnancy, and 17% think it should be legal up to 24 weeks of pregnancy.
Voters support breaking up the Clark County School District into smaller districts nearly 3:1 at 44% to 16%; 40% were unsure or had no opinion.
Methodology
The Emerson College Polling/KLAS-TV/The Hill poll was conducted July 7-10, 2022 in Nevada with a sample of n=2,000 registered voters. The study has a credibility interval (similar to a poll’s margin of error) of 2.1%. Each Congressional District consisted of voters, n=500, with a credibility interval (similar to a poll’s margin of error) of 4.3%. The data sets were weighted by gender, age, education, party registration, and race/ethnicity based on 2022 turnout modeling. It is important to remember that subsets based on gender, age, education, party registration, and race/ethnicity carry with them higher margins of error, as the sample size is reduced. Data was collected using an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system of landlines, an online panel, and a cellphone sample via SMS-to-web.
