ATLANTA – Another poll shows President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden running neck and neck in Georgia.
A survey of 782 Georgia voters conducted Aug. 24-25 by Public Policy Polling, a North-Carolina based Democratic polling firm, found Biden holding a slim lead over Trump, 47% to 46%. However, that was well within the poll’s margin of error of plus-or-minus 3.5%.
Biden’s strong showing was largely due to his support among self-identified independent voters. He held a 26-point advantage among that group, 56% to 30%.
Other Georgia polls in recent weeks have shown similar results.
Broken down by age, Trump is dominating among older Georgia voters, while Biden leads among younger voters. Trump leads Biden 56% to 41% among voters over 65, while Biden is ahead among voters under the age of 45, 49% to 40%.
Biden holds a narrower lead of 46% to 40% among voters between 46 and 65.
With the coronavirus pandemic making many Georgians reluctant to stand in a voting line on Election Day, only 27% of voters surveyed said they plan to vote in person on Nov. 3. A small plurality of voters showed a preference for early voting over voting by mail, 35% to 30%.
The poll found a strong correlation between how voters plan to cast their ballot and their preferred candidate. Trump was the choice of 75% of voters who plan to vote on Election Day, while Biden scored 72% support among those planning to vote by mail.
Early voters were more evenly divided, with 53% supporting Trump and 46% favoring Biden.
Black voters are much more likely to vote by mail, according to the poll. While 45% of Black voters expressed a preference for mailing in their ballots, only 18% of white voters said they plan to vote by mail.
The poll was commissioned by Fair Fight, the voting rights group founded by Stacey Abrams after she lost the 2018 gubernatorial election to Brian Kemp.