A new poll in the race for mayor of Atlanta suggests that businessman Peter Aman, a businessman who has served in the City Hall administrations of both Shirley Franklin and Kasim Reed, has parlayed himself into contention.
The Landmarks Communications survey, commissioned by Channel 2 Action News, places the top candidates as follows:
-- Councilwoman Mary Norwood, 25.4 percent;
-- Councilwoman Keisha Lance-Bottoms, 12.4 percent;
-- Aman, 12.1 percent;
-- Council President Ceasar Mitchell, 10.4 percent;
-- Former Council president Cathy Woolard, 6.6 percent;
-- State Sen. Vincent Fort, 6.1 percent;
-- Councilman Kwanza Hall, 5.2 percent;
-- Former Fulton County Commission chairman John Eaves, 3.6 percent;
-- and “undecided” at 17.4 percent.
The poll of 500 likely voters has a margin of error of 4.37 percent. A WSB-TV poll by Landmark in March placed Norwood, who met incumbent Mayor Kasim Reed in a runoff in 2009, at 28.6 percent. So the situation is largely unchanged with her – implying the at-large councilwoman might have a cap on her appeal.
Lance-Bottoms, Aman and Mitchell appear to form a second tier, all within the margin of error. But in March, Aman was at 1.8 percent. The businessman has financed much of his own campaign, and it appears the cash hasn’t been wasted.
The survey offers the intriguing possibility of a December runoff in the Atlanta mayoral contest between two white candidates.
Lance-Bottoms, the only African-American woman in the contest, polled 8.6 percent in March, compared to 8 percent for Mitchell.
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