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continued from page Duncan, who ….

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Duncan, who refused to go along with Trump's attempts to overturn the presidential election results in Georgia in 2020, decided not to seek reelection.

U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, RGreensboro, who Trump is backing for secretary of state against incumbent Brad Raffensperger, doubled his support in the poll – from 30.3% to 60.3% – when voters were told of the former president's endorsement.

Conversely, support for Raffensperger dropped from 22.7% among voters who weren't told of the endorsement, to 16.3%.

It was Raffensperger who stood up to Trump when the then-president called in January of last year asking him to 'find' the 11,780 votes Trump would need to overturn Democrat Joe Biden's victory in Georgia.

Trump's endorsement even carried weight in a race that doesn't directly involve anyone who has riled the former president. Little-known Patrick Witt, who is challenging incumbent Insurance Commissioner John King, saw his support skyrocket from just 8.3% when voters weren't told Trump had endorsed Witt, to 51.8% among voters who were made aware of the endorsement.

King's support slipped by a much smaller margin, from 10.6% to 7.2%. A third candidate in the race, Ben Cowart, also dropped from 9.6% to 4.5% when voters were told Trump had endorsed Witt.

UGA political science professor M.V. Hood III wrote in an analysis of the poll that Trump's endorsement made less difference at the top of the ballot because most voters had made up their minds in the high-profile gubernatorial primary.

While Trump's endorsement of Walker moved more voters to support him, it made little difference because the UGA football icon already had a huge lead in the Senate race, Hood wrote.

However, the huge swing of support toward Trump-endorsed candidates further down the ballot could have an impact, Hood wrote.

'In the absence of other information, many may rely on Trump’s endorsement in determining their votes in these races,' he wrote. 'Of course, it should be noted that they will need to seek out this information ahead of time as Trump’s endorsement will not appear on the Republican primary ballot.'

The poll's overall margin of error was plus-orminus 3.6%.

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