New poll finds Biden narrowly leading Trump in Georgia

A new poll finds Democratic nominee Joe Biden with a narrow lead over President Trump in Georgia, which has not gone for the Democratic presidential candidate in nearly 30 years.

The latest Quinnipiac University survey finds Biden at 50 percent and Trump at 47 percent. Both candidates have near-universal support from within their own parties but independents break for Biden by 9 points in the survey.

Only 2 percent of voters say they could still change their minds.

“It was Trump by 5 points in 2016 but it’s a nail biter in 2020,” said Quinnipiac University pollster Tim Malloy. “Can Biden be the first Democrat since Bill Clinton to turn Georgia blue?”

There is a massive gender gap between the candidates, with men supporting Trump by 15 points and women backing Biden by 18 points.

Biden has 89 percent support from Black people and Trump has 67 percent support from white people. Trump’s advantage is only 5 points among white people with a college degree, but he leads by more than 50 points among white people without a college degree.

A plurality of voters say the economy is the most important issue (25 percent), followed by law and order (15 percent) and racial justice (15 percent).

Trump has an 8-point advantage over Biden on the economy, but Biden leads by between 5 and 10 points on health care, racial equality and who would better manage the coronavirus pandemic.

Fifty-one percent of voters disapprove of the job Trump is doing as president and 53 percent disapprove of his handling of the coronavirus.

There are also two competitive Senate races in Georgia this year.

Democrat Jon Ossoff has a slight advantage over Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.), 49 percent to 48 percent.

In the crowded special election, Democrat Raphael Warnock is at 31 percent, followed by Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) at 23 percent and Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) at 22 percent. If no candidate hits the 50 percent mark, the top two will move forward to a runoff in January.

“The special election gets a special and powerful endorsement. Will the Obama stamp of approval for Raphael Warnock winnow down a multi-candidate scrum and propel him to the runoff? Georgia is providing Senate race drama times two,” said Malloy.

The Quinnipiac survey of 1,125 likely voters in Georgia was conducted between Sept. 23 and Sept. 27 and has a 2.9 percentage point margin of error.