Republican John Oxendine, and Democratic former Gov. Roy Barnes were leading the early running in Georgia's gubernatorial primaries in an Aug. 21-23 Strategic Vision, poll.
But it's still early -- the parties aren't picking their nominees until July 20, 2010 -- and many voters remain undecided, the poll of 800 likely voters shows.
Oxendine, the state insurance commissioner, was the potential GOP primary choice of 39 percent of the Republicans surveyed, while Rep. Nathan Deal was preferred by 13 percent; Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel, 12 percent; state Sen. Eric Johnson, 6 percent, and two additional GOP candidates received marginal support. A total of 25 percent of respondents indicated they were undecided in the GOP primary.
Barnes was favored by 45 percent of the Democrats surveyed about a hypothetical primary match up. State Attorney General Thurbert Baker received the support of 29 percent of Democrats plled and 20 percent were undecided. Two additional Democrats each received less than 5 percent support.
General election match-ups were not included in the survey.
Candidates are competing to succeed Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue, who is term-limited. Republicans hold an advantage in the state, but Democrats believe they have a strong chance of winning the governorship, especially after Democrats forced Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss into a runoff last year.
The poll's overall margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points. Sampling sizes and error margins by party were not provided.
CQ Politics rates the race Leans Republican.
--Rachel Kapochunas
To follow the 2009 and 2010 governors' races, check out CQ Politics' election map.
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