Democrats make gains in Georgia Senate races: poll

Democratic candidates have gained in both Georgia Senate races, with the Raphael Warnock leading in the state’s special election and challenger Jon Ossoff pulling even with Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.), according to a New York Times/Siena poll released Tuesday.

Warnock, with 32 percent, leads Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) with 23 percent and Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) with 17 percent, according to the poll. Loeffler led the poll a month ago with 23 percent, while Warnock and Collins were tied at 21 percent.

Although Democratic candidate Matt Lieberman remains in the race, Democratic figures have united behind Warnock, with both former President Barack Obama and former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams endorsing him.

Lieberman has faced increasing pressure from Democrats to drop out of the race, but with 7 percent of the vote, the poll indicates Warnock would not cross the 50 percent threshold even without him in the race.

The results also suggested Warnock’s lead was not due to a split Republican vote, as Warnock would lead with 49 percent if the vote was allocated, according to respondents’ presidential preference.

The race will proceed to a January runoff if no candidate secures a simple majority. Warnock led both Loeffler and Collins by a margin of 45 percent to 41 percent in a hypothetical head-to-head.

In the state’s other Senate race, Ossoff is tied with Perdue at 43 percent after Perdue led 41 percent to 37 percent a month ago.

About half of the survey was conducted after Perdue mispronounced Sen. Kamala Harris’ (D-Calif.) name at a Trump campaign event, sparking outrage and leading to nearly $2 million donations to Ossoff. However, the data indicated the race did not appear to have shifted in Ossoff’s favor specifically after the incident.

The poll did find that Perdue’s unfavorability ratings have increased since September. Last month, 47 percent of voters had a favorable opinion of him versus 34 percent with an unfavorable one, while as of Tuesday voters’ views of him were 44 percent unfavorable vs. 44 percent unfavorable.

 Pollsters surveyed 759 likely voters from Oct. 13-19. The poll has a 4.1-point margin of error.