Raffensperger in close reelection race with Trump-backed challenger: poll

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) is showed to be in a tight race with Rep. Jody Hice (R) in the latest poll by the University of Georgia’s School of Public and International Affairs on behalf of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The poll shows Raffensperger at 28 percent support among likely Republican primary voters while Hice, who has been endorsed by former President Trump, is at 26 percent. 

Raffensberger has drawn the ire of Trump for not backing his false 2020 election claims, while Hice has fully embraced the unfounded conspiracy theory. 

Raffensberger was in charge of overseeing the state election results during the 2020 presidential election, when Trump called him and told the secretary of state to “find” votes in Georgia. The phone call is now under investigation by a grand jury in Fulton County.

The poll found 87 percent believe election security is extremely or very important as Trump has repeatedly and falsely suggested voter fraud is the reason he lost Georgia.

Sixty percent are very or somewhat confident the 2020 election was done fairly and accurately. 

In a previous poll by Emerson College for The Hill, Raffensberger had a slightly bigger lead at the beginning of April, with 29 percent supporting him and 26 percent supporting Hice. 

The primary will take place on May 24. 

The poll was conducted April 10-22 among 886 likely Republican primary voters. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.