New Georgia poll shows Ossoff leading, governor’s race deadlocked

Today’s newsletter highlights:

• Test your knowledge with our weekly news quiz.
• Donald Trump’s endorsement of Rick Jackson quickly becomes a Democratic attack line.
• A key committee delays a vote on Erica Schwartz’s CDC nomination.

Polling picture

Democratic nominee for governor Keisha Lance Bottoms (left) and U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff campaign together at the Tabernacle in May. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)

The latest poll of Georgia voters offers one of the clearest snapshots yet of a political landscape pulling in two directions.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff leads Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Collins 52% to 43%. But the race for governor is effectively deadlocked, with Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms and Republican Rick Jackson within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Look deeper, though, and the broader political environment tilts toward Democrats.

Likely voters favor a Democratic candidate over a Republican on the generic congressional ballot, 51% to 44%, while President Donald Trump’s job approval rating is underwater by 16 percentage points.

That could bolster Democratic hopes of flipping several competitive Georgia state House seats to narrow the GOP’s majority, though a statewide congressional ballot is an imperfect measure of district-level races.

Ossoff also holds a commanding advantage in the political middle. Both candidates overwhelmingly carry voters from their own parties, but Ossoff leads Collins by 20 percentage points among independents.

His image is 10 percentage points above water, with 46% viewing him favorably and 36% unfavorably. Collins is essentially even at 31% favorable and 30% unfavorable — but 39% either have no opinion of him or haven’t heard of him, giving both campaigns room to define him.

Republicans don’t see this as some outlier: AARP commissioned the bipartisan team of Fabrizio Ward and Impact Research to interview 1,060 likely Georgia voters. Tony Fabrizio is one of the GOP’s best-known pollsters and served as Trump’s chief pollster in 2016, 2020 and 2024.

Friday news quiz

President Donald Trump arrives at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta on Wednesday. (Riley Bunch/AJC)

Good morning! How closely did you follow the news this week? Find out by taking our quiz. You’ll find the answers at the end of the newsletter.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill that would make daylight saving time permanent. Who was the only member of Georgia’s congressional delegation to vote against it?

• A) U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Athens.
• B) U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Marietta.
• C) U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams, D-Atlanta.
• D) U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, R-Jackson.

Customers of Toast, a Black-owned brunch spot in Atlanta, threatened to boycott the eatery this week. Why?

• A) The owner posed for a photo with Republican nominee for governor Rick Jackson.
• B) The restaurant removed a pride flag from the window after one customer complained.
• C) The restaurant refused to allow some Trump protesters inside to use the bathroom.
• D) The owner agreed to let Trump visit the restaurant briefly on his way to a rally in Cobb County.

President Donald Trump visited Wheeler High School in Cobb County this week. What Republican politician did Trump ask not to attend?

• A) Rick Jackson, the nominee for governor.
• B) Mike Collins, the nominee for U.S. Senate.
• C) Greg Dolezal, the nominee for lieutenant governor.
• D) Brian Strickland, the nominee for attorney general.

U.S. Rep. Clay Fuller, R-Lookout Mountain, arranged for a private tour of the U.S. Capitol this week. Who did he show around?

• A) A German soccer fan known as Freddy whose trip through America for the World Cup captivated the internet.
• B) Former Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker, who was visiting Washington two days before appearing with Trump in Cobb County.
• C) Conservative commentator Jack Posobiec.
• D) Right-wing YouTube host Steven Crowder.

Fact check

U.S. Rep. Mike Collins speaks to supporters at his watch party after winning the Republican U.S. Senate nomination last month. (Miguel Martinez/AJC)

Ossoff was one of 12 Democrats who voted with Republicans for the Laken Riley Act. But it wasn’t enough to shield him from GOP attacks.

Collins, Ossoff’s Republican challenger, posted on X this week that Ossoff “voted against the Laken Riley Act when he had the chance to save lives.” That set off a torrent of fact checks across the internet as politicos were eager to set the record straight.

Ossoff voted for the bill in January 2025, sending it to the House before Trump signed it into law. He also voted in favor of an earlier procedural motion that cleared the way for the bill to pass.

So, what gives? Collins told us he was referring to an amendment vote in March 2024, less than a month after Riley was killed. That amendment would have prevented immigrants from gaining legal status if they had been convicted, charged, or arrested for various crimes.

The Laken Riley Act that Ossoff voted for in January 2025 is different. It requires federal law enforcement agents to detain immigrants in the country illegally if they have been charged with certain crimes. Also, Ossoff’s 2024 vote was on a procedural motion, not on the bill itself.

Collins is not making that distinction. The 2024 vote came while Democrat Joe Biden was president. The 2025 vote happened after Trump had returned to the White House.

“He had every opportunity under the Biden administration to push that piece of legislation and to have it come up for a vote, and he wouldn’t,” Collins said. “When we got control of the Senate, then we voted for it, pushed it through, and he finally voted for it. Of course, it was already going to pass. So, no, he did not support it.”

Endorsement fallout

President Donald Trump (left) shakes hands with Republican nominee for governor Rick Jackson at a rally in Marietta on Wednesday. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)

Trump’s endorsement of Jackson didn’t take long to become a Democratic attack line.

The president re-upped his endorsement for the Republican billionaire in a social media post late Thursday that predicted he’ll be a “tremendous governor.”

It was one of several times the president has lavished praise on Jackson since he bested Trump-backed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in last month’s runoff.

Bottoms seized on the president’s backing to cast Jackson as more focused on proving his loyalty to Trump than serving Georgia.

“When someone tells you who they are, believe them,” Bottoms said. “Rick Jackson promised to be Trump’s ‘favorite governor’ and cut another $1 million check to buy Trump’s ‘complete and total endorsement.’ I’m running to fight for Georgians, while Rick Jackson is running to do whatever it is Donald Trump wants — no matter the cost to Georgia.”

Doubling down

Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff (left) and Republican U.S. Senate nominee Mike Collins. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)

Ossoff continued his aggressive campaign against Collins Thursday, calling a virtual news conference to spotlight reporting from CNN last week that the Republican’s son-in-law, David Alan Scheer II, featured nationalist, antisemitic and pro-Nazi propaganda on his channels as an online influencer.

Scheer is married to Collins’ daughter and has more than 1.5 million followers on social media. The couple lives in a house on Collins’ property in Jackson.

“I want to be very clear that for a sitting member of Congress to have links to white supremacists or neo-Nazis is a gravely serious thing,” Ossoff said.

The Democrat also hammered Collins for the role of his former chief of staff, Kip Talley, in seeking the release of a Holocaust denier from prison and briefing far-right activists about his efforts from his post on Collins’ staff. Talley has since left the office.

Collins spoke briefly with the AJC’s Tia Mitchell earlier this week about his son-in-law’s antisemitic posts. “Nobody speaks for me, and I don’t speak for anybody else,” he said. “I think it’s pretty clear on where I’ve always stood with Israel.”

Citing security concerns, a source close to Collins refused to discuss whether Scheer runs his social media platforms from Collins’ property, but said he has not been paid by Collins’ campaign or trucking business. The Collins campaign recently removed a photo of Scheer from its website.

But Ossoff said the Republican should go further.

“To refuse to apologize for his office’s documented ties to white supremacists — it’s disqualifying. It’s unacceptable, and it’s something that Georgia voters are rejecting, regardless of their political party, regardless of their identity.”

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Delayed confirmation

Dr. Erica Schwartz is President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Nathan Posner for the AJC)

A key committee needed to advance the nomination of Erica Schwartz to lead the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention postponed a scheduled vote on Thursday.

Attendance issues meant that Republicans didn’t have the votes to advance Schwartz’s nomination to the floor. The delay is likely only to last until the Senate’s Health Committee next meeting.

Sean ‌Kaufman, a Woodstock resident nominated by Trump to serve as assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the Department of Health and Human Services, might be in a tougher position. Some Republicans expressed concerns about his past statements criticizing vaccines.

The Senate committee is scheduled to vote on Kaufman’s nomination next week. But it could be postponed if he does not have the votes to advance.