Democrat Stacey Abrams faces an uphill struggle to defeat Republican Governor Brian Kemp in Georgia as polls show him with a substantial lead over his challenger.
Kemp and Abrams are competing in a rematch of the 2018 gubernatorial election that saw the Republican narrowly defeat his Democratic rival with 50.2 percent of the vote to her 48.8 percent.
A recent Monmouth University poll shows that support for Kemp has risen over the past month, while Abrams' support has remained largely unchanged over the same period.
The poll found that 44 percent of Georgia registered voters said they would definitely back Kemp, while another 11 percent said they would probably support the governor.
The percentage of voters saying they will definitely vote for Kemp has risen 10 points since September. By contrast, just 35 percent of respondents said they would definitely vote for Abrams and 8 percent said they would probably vote for her.
Abrams' figures were "basically unchanged from last month," according to the Monmouth University poll report released on Thursday.
"Kemp's support has clearly solidified in the past month while Abrams has been in a holding pattern," said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute.
The Monmouth University poll was conducted from October 20 to 24 among 615 Georgia registered voters and had a margin of error of plus or minus five percent.
Other recent polling also shows Kemp with a substantial lead over Abrams with less than two weeks before voters go to the polls.
A Rasmussen Reports/Pulse Opinion Research poll conducted from October 23 to 24 showed Kemp with 51 percent support to Abrams' 41 percent, while a Trafalgar Group poll conducted from October 21 to 23 found Kemp leading with 52 percent to Abrams' 45 percent.
Analysis from poll tracker FiveThirtyEight shows Kemp is "clearly favored" to win the governor's race and gives him a 91 percent chance of victory compared to Abrams' 9 percent chance of winning.
Despite recent polls, the Abrams' campaign is reportedly preparing for the possibility of a runoff election, which will take place if neither candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote.
"Polls are only a snapshot of this race, they don't paint the full picture of Georgia's electorate," Jaylen Black, Abrams' press secretary, told Newsweek earlier this week. "We know we are building and mobilizing one of the largest and most diverse electorates in our state's history."
"Instead of tracking the latest fluctuating polls, we are focused on getting voters to the polls. This is a tight race and we will continue bolstering our get-out-the-vote operations statewide," Black said.
Newsweek has asked the Kemp and Abrams campaigns for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Darragh Roche is a U.S. News Reporter based in Limerick, Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. politics. He has ... Read more
