AJC polling
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution commissioned a poll of Georgians that was conducted May 9-12. It is publishing the following stories based on that polling:
- Saturday: How do Georgians rate the work done by U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson and the rest of the state's congressional delegation?
- Sunday: How do the state's residents expect to vote in November's presidential election?
- Monday: How have his vetoes of a "religious liberty" bill and a campus gun bill affected Gov. Nathan Deal's approval rating?
Support for U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson has grown in recent months among Georgians, according to a new poll from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, but his approval rating is still below 50 percent and one-third of registered voters still do not know or have no opinion of the longtime lawmaker.
The statewide poll, conducted earlier this week by the firm Abt SRBI, found 42 percent of Georgians approve of the way Isakson is handling his job in the Senate. The same percentage of people said Isakson deserves to be re-elected this year to what would be a third term.
That's 7 percentage points higher than the number of Georgians who approved of Isakson's work in a similar poll in January and a 9 percent increase among Republicans. However, he is still below the 50 percent benchmark, and the number of people who have no opinion of him has not budged despite his campaign work in the lead-up to the May 24 primary.
Perhaps the most encouraging number for Isakson is that among the Republicans surveyed, 54 percent said the senator should be re-elected. Approval for Isakson's two GOP challengers, Mary Kay Bacallao and Derrick Grayson, was not meausred, but Isakson enjoys substantially greater name recognition and campaign contributions than his opponents.
“He looks like he’s in good shape for re-election,” said Charles Bullock, a political science professor at the University of Georgia, noting that Georgia still votes predominantly Republican in statewide races.
But Doug Heyl, a Democratic political consultant unaffiliated with the Georgia Senate race, said Isakson’s approval and re-election numbers could be cause for concern.
“For somebody who’s supposed to be cruising to re-election, if I was in Isakson’s campaign, it would make me uncomfortable,” he said of the two 42 percent figures.
“What I would want to know is where the problem comes from,” Heyl added. “Johnny could have problems from Republican base voters because he’s been more reasonable.”
Isakson lags among young voters
The AJC poll, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.26 points, indicates that Isakson particularly lags among young voters. The survey reported that 44 percent of voters under the age of 39 had no opinion of Isakson or chose not to answer whether they would support the incumbent.
One-quarter of respondents of all ages said they did not approve of Isakson’s work on Capitol Hill, including 29 percent of independent voters and nearly one-fifth of Georgia Republicans.
Sonya Chapman, a 52-year-old flight attendant who identifies herself as an independent-leaning conservative, said she does not support Isakson because she sees a disconnect between what he's promised on the campaign trail and how he's handled major legislation.
“When you’re campaigning you need to stick to your word, and he never has done that,” said Chapman, who lives in Gilmer County.
Some Republicans offered only tepid support.
“He’s the same as the rest of them. They’re all good people, but they’re just not representing the people,” said Paul Bassett, a retired business owner from Bibb County. Bassett, however, said he would support Isakson in the Senate race “because there’s nobody else to vote for.”
Trey Kilpatrick, the campaign manager for Georgians for Isakson, said the senator “does not take a single vote for granted.”
“He will continue fighting for Georgians just as he always has,” he said.
Isakson scored highest among seniors over the age of 65 and those with an annual income above $100,000. He also notched the support of 31 percent of Democratic respondents, which is roughly equal to the number of Democrats who disapprove of him.
“I think he’s a thoughtful and solemn individual, and I think when he speaks publicly he is persuasive,” said Marion Cornett, 72, a retired lawyer who lives in DeKalb County.
Cornett, a Democrat, said he has seen “very little” so far about the Democratic Party’s handpicked challenger, Jim Barksdale.
“I don’t really know anything about him,” Cornett said.
Congressional approval low
Isakson’s marks were significantly higher than those Georgians bestowed on Congress.
Only 21 percent of Georgians surveyed said they approved of Congress’ work, while 74 percent disapproved. Results were similar for both sexes.
“They always lie, they always back out,” Linda Inks, a retired security officer who lives in Tattnall County, said of Congress. “They always do something differently and take away (benefits) from people that are on a fixed income.”
Democrats, meanwhile, were happier with Congress than their Republican and independent counterparts. Twenty-eight percent of Democrats said they approved of how Congress did its job, compared with 15 percent of Republicans and 22 percent of independents.
“You’d think that given that Congress is completely controlled by Republicans, that Democrats and Democratic identifiers — and race would be a pretty good proxy for that — would be much more critical,” Bullock said.
Even starker are the racial and generational divides between how people view Congress’ performance.
The white people polled were significantly more dissatisfied than their black counterparts, slapping Congress with an 81 percent disapproval rating compared with 60 percent among African-Americans.
Older Georgians were also much more likely to disapprove of Congress’ work than younger Americans. More than three-quarters of people surveyed above the age of 65 were unhappy with the legislative branch’s direction, compared with 68 percent of voters under the age of 39.
Dissatisfaction also varied geographically. It was highest in deeply red North Georgia, where only 9 percent of the 115 people polled said they approved of Congress. People in the relatively moderate metro Atlanta, meanwhile, were overall happiest with Congress, with 30 percent of the 208 people surveyed approving of the state of Capitol Hill.
Meanwhile, Georgians indiciated they were slightly more satisfied with their own representative in Congress. Nearly 50 percent of respondents said they approved of their congressman’s work, 48 percent among Democrats and 56 percent for Republicans, while 40 percent of people overall disapproved.
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