A new poll of the Georgia U.S. Senate race shows incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) leading Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) 50 percent to 42 percent, with 8 percent of respondents undecided, according to a survey released Friday by Insider Advantage.
In the state’s governor’s race, billionaire healthcare executive Rick Jackson (R) holds a narrower edge over former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D), 48 percent to 46 percent, with 6 percent still undecided.
The survey polled 1,200 likely Georgia voters between Sept. 22 and 23, a little more than a month before Election Day.
InsiderAdvantage pollster Matt Towery said the results point to an unusual split between the two races.
“In my many years as a pollster and analyst, I’ve never seen something like this. Usually a well-funded Republican Senate candidate is close (in terms of percentage of likely voters) to that for a well-funded gubernatorial candidate. But if this trend holds, there will be a lot of ‘ticket splitting’ in a state not known for it,” Towery said in a statement.
Towery pointed to independent voters as the key to the divergence.
“The real difference is with voters who identify as independent. Jackson and Lance Bottoms are basically tied among that group. But Collins is losing independents by almost twenty points. Jackson and his team have run the superior campaign, finding ways to appeal to suburban and exurban voters in the sprawling metro Atlanta area,” he continued. “I do believe there is a chance to see the Senate race tighten. But with Ossoff already at fifty percent, it is a serious challenge for Collins.”
Collins, who represents Georgia’s 10th congressional district and owns a trucking company, faces an eight-point deficit in Ossoff’s favor according to RealClear Polling’s average, which rates the Senate contest a “toss-up.”
RealClear Polling also rates the governor’s race a “toss-up,” with its average showing Jackson holding a slim 0.7-point lead over Bottoms.
Both races remain competitive heading into the final weeks of the campaign, with independent voters emerging as the decisive bloc separating the two contests.
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