Data Orbital poll has Kari Lake, Katie Hobbs leading in gubernatorial primaries

FOX 9's Adam Klepp spoke to the top candidates and pollsters about Tuesday's races

YUMA, Ariz. (KECY, KYMA) - Polling company Data Orbital is making its final primary predictions for the governor’s race.

They still say Kari Lake is favored to win the Republican nomination for governor but her lead is shrinking.

“We’re expecting the race to be very tight at 8 pm, maybe with a slight edge to Taylor Robson. But once the election day votes are counted we expect Kari Lake to prevail," George Khalaf, from Data Orbital said.

Karrin Taylor Robson's campaign released a poll showing the race is much closer.

“One of our internal polls shows the race tied," Taylor Robson said.

But Khalaf says this poll didn’t include Matt Salmon, who dropped out of the race but is on the ballot.

“We know Matt Salmon is going to get votes. We know that. We expect that vote total to be about 4-5%,” Khalaf said.

On the Democratic side, current Secretary of State Katie Hobbs is expected to win comfortably over former Nogales Mayor Marco Lopez.

But Khalaf says their numbers show her losing some momentum.

“I don’t know if it’s going to be a 40, 30 percent blowout. She’s getting a lot of bad press and even some endorsers are jumping ship," Khalaf said.

The bad press is a recent report, saying two-thirds of her campaign staff have quit over the last few months.

I asked Secretary Hobbs about the report, and she says she is 100% confident in how her campaign is being run.

“We are focused on building an inclusive team where folks are respected and I think we’ve done that,” Hobbs said.

Khalaf says looking beyond the primary, he expects a Republican to win the Governorship come November.

“I think Arizona is going to elect a Republican for the Governor’s office. And I think Kari Lake beats Katie Hobbs," Khalaf said.