Ossoff leads Dems in Perdue matchup, Loeffler trails...

A poll released Tuesday shows Jon Ossoff leading other Democrats in a potential head-to-head matchup against U.S. Sen. David Perdue, the latest in a string of surveys that shows a tight race for the seat.

In Georgia’s other U.S. Senate contest, Republican U.S. Rep. Doug Collins tops a jumbled field racing to unseat incumbent Kelly Loeffler, who trails her three most prominent Democratic rivals in hypothetical one-on-one contests.

The survey, conducted by Civiqs for the left-leaning DailyKos outlet, showed Ossoff with a 47-45 edge over Perdue, within the poll’s margin of error. Former Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson is statistically tied with Perdue, 45-44, and Sarah Riggs Amico is within 3 percentage points (45-42).

It’s the most detailed public poll of the Senate contest since an Atlanta Journal-Constitution survey in March, though several recent GOP internal polls have also indicated close contests. However, it didn’t include a question about the June 9 Democratic primary contest for the right to challenge Perdue.

The poll involves 1,339 registered voters who participated online between May 16-18. The margin of error is 3.1 percentage points. You can see the results here.

It staked Collins to an early lead in Georgia’s other U.S. Senate race, a free-for-all with no party primaries that pits Loeffler against 20 other challengers in a November special election. That contest is almost certain to end in a January runoff.

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Collins leads the field with 34%, followed by Democrat Raphael Warnock (18%), Democrat Matt Lieberman (14%) and Loeffler (12%). Other contenders, including former federal prosecutor Ed Tarver, were in single-digits and about 12% of respondents were uncertain.

Loeffler is racing to steady her campaign amid fallout over her stock transactions during the pandemic, and some allies of Collins have called for Republican elders to pressure her to abandon the race.

In hypothetical runoff matchups, Loeffler trailed each of her potential Democratic opponents by double-digits. Collins, meanwhile, was deadlocked with both Lieberman and Warnock, and led Tarver 45-42.

Like a spate of other recent surveys, it showed a neck-and-neck race for the White House in Georgia, with Democrat Joe Biden at 48% and President Donald Trump at 47%. Democrats aim to flip Georgia in the presidential race for the first time since 1992.

And it pegged Gov. Brian Kemp’s favorability rating at 41% — and his unfavorable rating at 48% – as he navigates a pandemic crisis that’s upended the lives of Georgians.

Here’s some more tidbits from the survey:

Ossoff outperformed his Democratic rivals among the most important bloc of voters in the primary: African-Americans. The poll showed 88% of black voters would support him in a matchup against Perdue, compared with 79% for Tomlinson and 76% for Amico.
Collins leads Loeffler 68-21 among Republican voters and 30-11 among women. He also leads the field among independents (24%), suburban (31%) and rural Georgians (51%). Two-thirds of voters over the age of 65 said they supported his campaign.
Perdue’s unfavorable rating (45%) was higher than his favorable rating (39%), though he fared better than Loeffler. Some 59% of respondents said they had an unfavorable view of Loeffler, compared with about one-fifth who gave her a positive rating. Collins was on steadier footing, with a 40% favorable rating and 35% unfavorable.
Georgians were almost evenly split on Trump, with about half (51%) holding an unfavorable view of Trump, compared with 47% who had a positive opinion. About 54% of Georgians have an unfavorable view of Biden, while just 40% have a favorable opinion.