Poll: GOP has small lead in Georgia Senate race

by Cameron Joseph - 10/07/14 12:41 PM ET

Businessman David Perdue (R) has a narrow lead over former charity executive Michelle Nunn (D), according to a new automated survey from Democratic firm Public Policy Polling.

{mosads}Perdue leads Nunn by 45 percent to 43 percent with Libertarian Amanda Swafford at 5 percent, according to the poll.

The numbers indicate a tight race in Georgia, a state where most observers have thought Perdue has the edge due to its conservative lean. Most other recent polling has found Perdue with a small lead.

The poll was conducted from Oct. 2-5. News that Perdue had said he’d spent “most of [his] career” focused on outsourcing broke on Oct. 3. It’s unclear whether that news may have pushed Nunn’s numbers up temporarily, or that most voters hadn’t heard about it by the time the poll was conducted.

Nunn’s campaign released an ad on Tuesday hitting Perdue for the comments. The two are set for their first official debate on Tuesday night.

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In a head-to-head, which will occur of no one reaches 50 percent and the race heads to a January runoff, Perdue leads by 48 percent to 45 percent.

The poll of 895 likely voters was conducted with auto-dialing with a 20 percent internet sample for those who only use cell phones. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.3 percent.