by WILL FOLKS
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While the race for the United States Senate in South Carolina appears to be coming down to the wire, the race to become the Palmetto State’s next chief executive remains a blowout, per the latest polling data obtained by FITSNews.
Four-term attorney general Alan Wilson, the Republican nominee for governor, enjoys a 10% lead over state representative Jermaine Johnson, the Democrat standard-bearer, with just two weeks to go until election day (and early voting already underway). That’s according to the results of a survey (.pdf) conducted last week by NPA Polling.
Wilson drew 51% support compared to 41% support for Johnson, according to the poll. United Citizens candidate Michael Addison and Green party nominee Walid Hakim each received the support of 1% of respondents, while 7% were undecided. Wilson’s advantage is outside of the poll’s margin of error. It’s also larger than the pool of undecided voters – and above the Palmetto State’s generic congressional ballot, in which South Carolinians were asked whether they planned on supporting the Republican or Democrat candidate in the upcoming congressional elections.
Per the poll, 50% indicated they planned on backing the Republican candidate compared to 44% who said they would vote for the Democrat.
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According to the NPA data, Wilson leads among men (55%–36%), women (47%–44%) and older voters (59%–34%). He also enjoys huge leads in the Pee Dee, Upstate and Midlands regions of South Carolina – where more than three-quarters of the electorate is located.
Three weeks ago, FITSNews exclusively reported on a survey from veteran strategist Rick Quinn – son of the late, legendary consultant Richard Quinn – which showed Wilson with a nearly identical 10% advantage over Johnson.
According to Quinn’s results, Wilson was backed by 45.17% of registered voters, compared to 35.03% for Johnson. Most of the rest of the electorate – 15.84% – was undecided.
Assuming the NPA survey results are accurate, undecided voters in South Carolina’s governor’s race are breaking almost evenly between Wilson and Johnson – which would be something of a surprise given prevailing national sentiment. Most analysts expected Johnson to best Wilson among undecided voters – perhaps even decisively so – although given the size of Wilson’s lead, Johnson’s anticipated success with undecided voters was never expected to swing the race in his favor.
NPA surveyed 604 likely voters from October 13-16, 2026 via a mix of live caller interviews and text-to-web surveys from a voter-file sample. The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 4%. Keep it tuned to FITSNews as we continue to track data from various surveys over the coming two weeks ahead of the November 3 election.
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THE POLL…
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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