Poll shows tight races for president, Senate in Georgia

Republican incumbents running statewide in Georgia are locked in tight races, according to an internal poll from a group backing GOP Gov. Brian Kemp.

The survey shows presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden and President Trump deadlocked in the race for the White House and close races for both of the state’s Senate seats.

The poll, conducted by the Republican polling firm Public Opinion Strategies and first reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, shows Biden with 47 percent support in the state and Trump at 46 percent, a statistically insignificant difference given the survey’s margin of error of 4 percentage points. 

But more voters said they will “definitely” vote for Trump than those who said they will “definitely” vote for Biden, 43 percent to 39 percent.

Meanwhile, Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) leads Democratic front-runner Jon Ossoff by only 2 points, garnering 43 percent support to his opponent’s 41 percent, according to the poll. 

The survey also shows a statistical tie between three candidates in the state’s special election to serve out the rest of retired Sen. Johnny Isakson’s (R-Ga.) term. Rep. Doug Collins (R) notched 19 percent, while Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R), whom Kemp appointed to Isakson’s seat late last year, scored 18 percent in the poll. 

Just behind the two Republicans is Democrat Matt Lieberman at 17 percent. Raphael Warnock, who has the backing of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in the race, came in at just 9 percent support, according to the poll. About 26 percent of those surveyed remain undecided. 

The poll shows a much tighter match-up between Loeffler and Collins than two other recent internal polls that found Collins with double-digit leads.

One poll conducted for Collins’s campaign last month showed the Georgia congressman up 23 points over Loeffler. And another internal poll conducted for the Georgia House Republican Caucus and reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution earlier this month showed Collins leading Loeffler by 18 points.

The poll from Public Opinion Strategies, however, suggests that Georgia may be more competitive for Republicans than they had hoped. 

While the state’s politics are largely dominated by the GOP and election handicappers have given an edge to Republicans in both Senate races, Democrats believe that Georgia could still come into play, either later this year or in future election cycles.

In the last round of elections in 2018, Kemp beat his Democratic challenger, Stacey Abrams, by little more than 1 point, down from Trump’s 5-point margin of victory over then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in Georgia in 2016. 

The Public Opinion Strategies poll surveyed 500 likely voters in Georgia from May 4 to 7.