Support for President Biden has crumbled in Georgia, a state that could wrest control of the Senate from Democrats in this year’s elections
A new poll out of Georgia shows troubling signs for Democrats heading into this year’s midterm elections, as voters have soured on President Joe Biden and see America heading in the wrong direction under his party’s leadership.
The poll, which was done by the University of Georgia and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC), showed that only one in three voters approve of Biden’s performance as president. That result marked a collapse in support since last May, when 51% of Georgians gave the president a thumbs-up and 46% disapproved.
Less than 13% of voters now “strongly approve” of Biden’s handling of the presidency, down from 28% in May. Moreover, 71% of Georgia voters see America as heading on the “wrong track,” while only 16.5% said the country is heading in the “right direction.”
The dramatic shift in Georgia’s political mood could be a harbinger of trouble for Biden’s party, as the state was key in helping him win the presidency in 2020 and gave Democrats control of the Senate in a special election last January. One of the Georgia Democrats who came to power last year, Raphael Warnock, is up for re-election in 2022, and he likely needs to win for his party to have a chance of retaining control of the Senate.
The poll found that less than 32% of Georgians see themselves as better off financially than a year ago, and most voters blame current government policies for their economic woes, including the highest US inflation rate in 40 years.
The dominant Republican candidate for Warnock’s Senate seat, Georgia football legend Herschel Walker, is currently polling ahead of the incumbent Democrat. Asked in the University of Georgia-AJC poll about a head-to-head matchup between the two candidates, voters gave Walker the advantage at 47.1% to 43.6%. A Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday showed Walker with a 49-48 edge over Warnock.
READ MORE: Poll reveals how many Americans think country on ‘wrong track’
In the 2020 presidential election, Biden beat Trump by a razor-thin margin of 0.2% in Georgia. Respondents to the University of Georgia-AJC poll favored Biden by a full percentage point in 2020, so if anything, the survey group may be less negative about the president than Georgians as a whole.
