An Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll released Friday shows Democrat Jon Ossoff has a 7-point edge over Republican Karen Handel in the nationally watched race to represent Georgia’s 6th Congressional District.
The poll of likely voters has Ossoff leading Handel by a margin of 51 percent to 44 percent ahead of the June 20 runoff. About 5 percent of voters are undecided. The margin of error is 4 percentage points.
It’s one of a several recent polls that show Ossoff with an advantage in the contest, although most other surveys show a tighter race.
The findings show Ossoff has an enormous lead over Handel among women, leading 60 percent to 34 percent. The Republican is beating Ossoff among male voters by a margin of 52 percent to 41 percent. He has a solid advantage over Handel among younger voters, while she has a slim majority of voters who are over 65.
The conservative-leaning district has long been held by Republicans, and Ossoff has tried to appeal to both liberals infuriated with President Donald Trump and moderates and independents who typically vote for the GOP. Of those polled, 46 percent identified themselves as Republican or Republican-leaning and 44 percent identified as Democrats or Democratic-leaning.
He’s capturing about 13 percent of Republican voters and 50 percent of independents – a crucial voting bloc that leans to the right in the state. It shows almost no crossover on the flip side; only 3 percent of Democrats say they’re backing Handel. Ossoff gets support from 44 percent of white voters, a big number for a Democrat in Georgia.
The poll was conducted June 5-8 by Abt Associates, which conducts its polls by telephone. Pollsters called 1,000 registered voters in the 6th District in order to get a sample of 745 likely voters. Of those, 60 percent were reached on cell phones. The questions were asked by live interviewers, not an automated system.
Read more: A closer look at the AJC 6th District poll
Check out the MyAJC politics site throughout the day and weekend for many more details and crosstabs.
More recent AJC coverage of the 6th District race:
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