According to some of the latest polling data from the state, Georgia’s two ongoing Senate races are close. In Georgia, Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff are running to unseat incumbent Republicans Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, and in the latest FiveThirtyEight polling averages from early Monday, both of the Democratic competitors were within one percent of their opponents, with Warnock slightly ahead by 0.9 percent and Ossoff barely behind by a meager 0.1 percent. In other words, based on this data, these races could definitely swing to the Democrats, which would hand the party control of the Senate. Two Democratic victories would leave the chamber 50-50, with soon-to-be Vice President Kamala Harris tasked with breaking any ties.
FiveThirtyEight adjusts their averages “for house effects based on how much each poll differs from the polling consensus,” they explain. In the two most recent polls that FiveThirtyEight had cataloged as of early Monday, Perdue had slight leads over Ossoff while Warnock slightly led Loeffler. In an InsiderAdvantage survey of 500 registered voters, Perdue led by 1 percent and Warnock led by 2 percent. In the Perdue-Ossoff match-up, 3 percent of respondents said that they were undecided, while in the Warnock-Loeffler match-up, 4 percent of respondents said the same. In a Reconnect Research/ Probolsky Research survey from December, Perdue led by 1 percent, while Warnock also led by 1 percent, with a sizable number of undecided voters in both races.
In Georgia, over 2.1 million voters have already participated in the Senate races, with Election Day on January 5. Over the weekend, outgoing President Donald Trump announced plans for a January 4 rally in Georgia on behalf of Perdue and Loeffler, although considering the swift rate of early voting, that late engagement might not make much of a noticeable impact. President-elect Joe Biden has already made an in-person campaign stop in Georgia on behalf of Warnock and Ossoff, admonishing voters to support the candidates so that the Biden administration’s agenda for the American people can get accomplished. A Democrat-controlled Senate could help remove partisan gridlock from the equation as the Biden administration works to bring support to the American people.
Both Warnock and Ossoff have expressed support for $2,000 direct payments to Americans, which President Trump made a show of advocating for in place of the $600 direct payments in new legislation. Recently, both Democrats reported staggering fundraising levels, both passing $100 million in fundraising in a two month period ending in mid-December.
