Former President Donald Trump has opened up a lead of 3 percentage points over Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris in the crucial battleground state of Georgia in the race for president, a poll by The Atlanta-Journal Constitution/University of Georgia released Wednesday found.
The survey of 1,000 likely Georgia voters taken between Sept. 9-15 revealed that 47% favored the Republican nominee and 44% favored Harris. The difference is just within the poll's margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points.
Independent candidate Cornel West (0.7%), the Libertarian Party's Chase Oliver (0.3%) and the Green Party's Jill Stein (0.1%) all polled below 1%, and 7% said they were undecided.
The race has narrowed since a June poll by the Journal-Constitution, before President Joe Biden decided against seeking re-election, that showed Trump with a 43%-38% edge over Biden. In a July poll by the Journal-Constitution, again conducted before Biden dropped out, a hypothetical matchup of Trump and Harris showed Trump ahead 51%-46%.
At this point, 86% of Democrats and 77% of Black voters back Harris, roughly 10 points below the mark Democrats seek to hit, according to the Journal-Constitution. About 12% of Black voters — the most reliable bastion of Democrat support in Georgia — said they haven't made up their minds.
Trump leads Harris among likely voters under age 30 (51%-47%), and with those between ages 45-64 (49%-42%) and over 65 (53%-42%). Harris has a 13-point edge (49%-36%) among those aged 30-44.
Harris has a favorable impression with 48% of Georgians, the same as her unfavorable rating. With Trump, 46% have a favorable impression compared with 51% who don't.
Regardless of support, 48% said they believe Harris will win the election, compared with 37% who believe Trump will win and about 15% not sure. Only 71% of Republican believe Trump will win, with 14% believing Harris will win and 15% not sure. Among Democrats, 82% believe Harris will win, with 8% saying Trump will and 10% not sure.
Georgians appear happier with their choices than they did during the June poll, when only about one-quarter of voters said they were satisfied with their choices. Now, about 51% said they are somewhat or strongly satisfied with their options.
Democrats are broadly more content than Republicans about their choice — a sharp contrast to June, when about half of Democrat voters said they would swap out Biden for another contender. Only about one-third of Democrats said they are dissatisfied with their choice.