A new InsiderAdvantage / Fox 5 / Morris News Poll has been released on the race for governor in Georgia. The survey was taken of 486 Georgia voters, and has a margin of error of 4.3 points.Normally, especially in a red state like Georgia, the re-election of a Republican governor would be a foregone conclusion. But this survey, which mirrors three previous InsiderAdvantage polls on the race, shows that may not be the case this year. All of the surveys have shown this to be a very tight race, and this latest poll actually has Democrat Jason Carter with a small lead over the incumbent GOP governor.
Carter's 3 point lead (41% to 38%) is within the margin of error for the poll though, so all that can be concluded is that this is currently a very tight race -- a toss-up. Whether this is due to Jason Carter being the grandson of former president (and popular former governor) Jimmy Carter, whether Governor Deal is just reaping the outcome of his own gubernatorial mistakes is not know. It's probably a mixture of the two.
What is clear is that a significant portion of the population is still undecided (about 21%), and this race will be decided by those voters. And it is to Carter's advantage to keep the race close -- because many of that 21% (probably mostly Independents) might not even bother to vote if they thought the race was not close, but might be willing to cast a vote for Carter if they think he has a chance. And right now his chances look pretty good.
This will be an interesting race to watch over the next few months.
