Another poll conducted in the wake of the back-to-back weather crises in metro Atlanta suggests an opening for Gov. Nathan Deal's political opponents.
A poll conducted by the center-left Public Policy Polling had Deal in a statistical tie with state Sen. Jason Carter, with 45 percent of voters backing the incumbent and 42 percent behind his Democratic challenger. It also showed Deal's approval rating at 45 percent, iffy territory for an incumbent seeking a second term.
The poll, with a margin of error of about 3 percent, involved 833 voters who were questioned Feb. 19 and 20, just after the second wave of winter weather blasted the state. Deal got low marks for his handling of the first round, on Jan. 28, but acclaim even from critics for his response to the sequel two weeks later.
It was commissioned by Better Georgia, the progressive outfit that often needles Deal and other GOP powerbrokers.
The poll also found that about 14 percent of voters who identify as Republicans would support Carter. (By contrast, it had about 6 percent of Democrats backing Deal).) Those findings come about a week after a conservative outfit's "triple-filtered poll" that aimed for the most hard-core conservatives found Carter's support at 8 percent among Republicans.
Some 41 percent of the PPP poll's respondents were Republican, 39 percent were Democrat and 20 percent identified as independents, who tend to lean more conservative in Georgia.
In a side note, pollsters also asked about election-year proposals from some GOP lawmakers to convene a new constitutional convention. About 69% of respondents were against it and another 16 percent were uncertain. The remaining 15 percent supported the gambit, pitched by Republican leaders as a way to rein in spending in Washington.
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