Georgia Miscellany

-Georgia Governor Nathan Deal could be vulnerable in 2014, given the right Democratic opponent. Only 37% of voters in the state approve of the job he's doing to 40% who disapprove. He leads all of the Democrats we tested against him but polls in the mid 40s- it's 44/40 against John Barrow, 47/40 against Kasim Reed, and 46/38 against Jason Carter. His average lead of 6 points against that trio is far smaller than the average advantage of 15 points we showed for Saxby Chambliss against them in our Senate numbers on Tuesday. Deal doesn't have the primary worries Chambliss does, but there's a greater chance of him struggling in a general election.

-Georgia voters continue to be strongly opposed to gay marriage. Only 27% of voters think it should be legal to 65% who believe it should be illegal. Nevertheless 57% support either gay marriage or civil unions to only 40% who think there should be no legal recognition for same sex couples. Even among Republicans there's 44% support for at least instituting civil unions. These numbers back up what we've found nationally over the course of the year which is that there's still a hang up with many voters about the term 'marriage' but at this point there's broad support for same sex couples at least having the same legal rights as heterosexuals.

-We took a look at some sports issues on this poll. Georgia fans outnumber Georgia Tech ones 40/17. Only 15% of voters in the state think the Falcons need a new stadium to 70% who think they do not. Just 12% say they would support any taxpayer funding to give the Falcons a new home, while 75% are opposed to it. Chipper Jones has a 57/11 favorability rating in the state-given the tepid feelings in the state toward Governor Deal and Senators Chambliss and Isakson, maybe he has a future in elected office- he's a heck of a lot more popular.

-Barack Obama has a 46% approval rating in Georgia, with 52% of voters disapproving of him. Those numbers mirror the election results in the state pretty closely. Johnny Isakson continues to be one of the more low profile Senators in the country- 37% approve of him, 31% disapprove, and even after 8 years in office 31% don't have an opinion about him one way or the other. Jimmy Carter's favorability rating with home state voters is 55/38.

-Finally we asked Georgians if they want to secede from the country because of Barack Obama's reelection and Republicans are evenly divided on the matter- 42% say they would like to secede and 42% are opposed to the concept. I doubt that many Republicans would really secede if they had the choice- not that many people are signing the secession petitions- but their willingness to say they would is a measure of how unhappy they are over the President's reelection.

Full results here

Comments

[Ed Dennis]

I can't support Deal. I have seen his administration place at least two items on our election ballots that were totally misleading. If this miscreant feels his initiatives are so weak that he has to lie to the citizens of Georgia to get them accepted then he isn't much of a leader. Thank goodness that the public was able to rally and defeat his T Splost proposal last year. He had a bad reputation with regard to ethics when he was elected and Casey Cagle would seem to be no better. Georgia, under Deal was judged the most corrupt state in the nation by the the Center for Public Integrity.