Kemp holds wide lead in Georgia governor race: poll

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp holds a more than 20-point lead in the Republican gubernatorial primary race against former Sen. David Perdue (Ga.), according to a new poll by the University of Georgia’s School of Public and International Affairs on behalf of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The poll, which surveyed likely Republican primary voters, found that 53 percent of voters support Kemp in the race, while 26 percent support Perdue. 

Similar results occur when asked whether respondents approve of the men, with Kemp’s favorable rating at 71 percent and Perdue’s at 57 percent. 

With the May 24 primary drawing near, Kemp has consistently polled as the favorite in the GOP field.

The poll’s results were released two days after Kemp and Perdue had a debate defined by their differences of opinion regarding the 2020 presidential election and its aftermath. 

During the debate, Perdue continued to peddle the false claim made by former President Trump that the 2020 election was stolen and blamed Kemp for Democrats having control of the White House and Senate.

“The only reason I’m not in the United States Senate is because you caved in and gave the election to … liberal Democrats,” Perdue, who lost his Senate seat to now-Sen. Jon Ossoff (D), said to Kemp during the debate.

“Weak leaders blame everybody else for their own loss instead of themselves,” Kemp fired back.

Kemp has drawn the ire Trump and those who falsely believe the election was stolen for certifying the election results in Georgia, denying Trump’s request to reject them.

“I’ve always said there’s fraud in every election, and when I was secretary of state, I went after it,” Kemp said on Sunday. “I didn’t say there wasn’t problems in this election. Look, I was as frustrated as anybody else.”

In the poll, 87 percent said election security was extremely or very important, while almost 60 percent are very or somewhat confident the 2020 elections were conducted fairly and accurately.

The primary will take place May 24, with the winner moving on to face Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, who lost to Kemp in a hotly contested campaign in 2018.

The poll was conducted April 10-22 among 886 likely Republican primary voters. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.