An early poll in Georgia’s gubernatorial election shows incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp (R) leading Democrat challenger Stacey Abrams.
The poll, taken by East Carolina University (ECU), was conducted between June 6 to June 9 among 868 registered voters in Georgia.
It asked who voters would vote for if the general election was held on the days during which the poll was conducted.
Fifty percent of Georgia’s voters said they would vote for Kemp, while 45 percent said they would vote for Abrams. Only two percent – within the 3.9 percent margin of error – said they were undecided, while two percent more were listed as selecting “other.”
The poll also asked about Georgia’s high-profile U.S. Senate race between Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and challenger Herschel Walker, an ex-NFL football player.
The pair are tied in the race, according to the poll, which says both candidates would receive 46 percent of the vote if the election had been held between the days when the poll was conducted. Six percent said they remained undecided, which is outside the poll’s margin of error.
Demographics played a role in the surveying of voters, too.
“Both Abrams and Warnock run strongest among black women, with Warnock ahead of Walker 91 percent to 3 percent and Abrams ahead of Kemp 93 percent to 3 percent,” according to the pollsters. “Warnock and Abrams also lead among black men, with Warnock holding a 74 percent to 11 percent advantage over Walker, and Abrams holding a 77 percent to 16 percent advantage over Kemp.”
“By comparison, Walker and Kemp draw support from white men and white women by considerable margins,” the poll said. “Walker leads Warnock 69 percent to 25 percent among white men and 61 percent to 33 percent among white women, whereas Kemp leads Abrams 73 percent to 22 percent among white men and 67 percent to 31 percent among white women.”
Those with a college degree preferred Warnock over Walker by eight points, while those without a college degree preferred Walker by a margin of five points.
The gubernatorial race had similar results, which showed that college-educated Georgians preferred Abrams over Kemp by a margin of three points, and Kemp holding an 11-point lead over Abrams among those without a college degree.
The poll also showed that President Joe Biden’s approval ratings are dismal in the Peach State, with only 38 percent saying they approve of the way the president is performing and 54 percent saying they do not approve.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Georgia Star News and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected]
Photo “Brian Kemp” by Brian Kemp. Photo “Stacey Abrams” by Stacey Abrams.
