Poll finds sky-high voter enthusiasm

Both sides tend to view election as very important.

SAVANNAH — For all the talk of a “blue wave” at the ballot box this year, political enthusiasm among right-leaning Georgians appears to be nearly as high as it is on the left, according to a new Atlanta Journal-Constitution/ Channel 2 Action News poll.

The survey of 1,091 likely Georgia voters, conducted by the University of Georgia’s School of Public and International Affairs, found that 68 percent of Republicans and three-quarters of Democrats see the upcoming midterm election as “much more important” or “more important” than past votes. Those percentages ran even higher among voters who identify as “strong liberals” and “strong conservatives.”

The numbers help explain the spike in early voting and the gubernatorial candidates’ push to motivate their respective bases to turn out as the number of undecided voters has dwindled in recent weeks. Recent polling shows Democrat Stacey Abrams and Republican Brian Kemp remain neckand-neck.

More than 1.5 million Georgians have already cast their ballots, which is more than double the early turnout from the 2014 midterm elections. Numbers have spiked in both Republican strongholds and blue bastions across the state.

And after initially shying away from nationalizing the race for governor, Kemp and Abrams have both thrown that approach out the window as they’ve sought to run up vote totals in friendly parts of the state.

Kemp successfully lobbied for President Donald Trump to campaign with him on Sunday and embarked on a three-city tour with Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday, stumping with two very popular figures among GOP voters. On the campaign trail he warns about Abrams’ “radical” views.

Abrams has also launched more direct attacks on Kemp in recent weeks. She’s campaigned with a parade of potential presidential candidates in 2020 who are beloved by Democrats, and former President Barack Obama and talk show icon Oprah Winfrey came to Atlanta this week to show their support for her.

Democrats are counting on sustained fury against Trump to deliver them control of the U.S. House of Representatives and even flip a few gubernatorial seats such as Georgia’s.

Disdain for Trump is one of the reasons why Sylvia Kleiman Fields of Savannah said she’s supporting Abrams.

The 84-year-old nurse and physician educator has voted for Democrats and Republicans in the past but said she was particularly turned off by the way Trump and some of his GOP allies have discussed the migrant caravan winding its way across Mexico with the aim of reaching the southern U.S. border.

“It’s inhumane,” Fields said of the way Trump has talked about rebuffing the caravan, which she compared to how the S.S. St. Louis, a ship of Jewish refugees, was ordered to turn back in 1939.

Many Republicans were once resigned about their odds on Tuesday given historical trends working against the party in power, but the GOP has seen a jolt in voter intensity following Trump’s recent base-pleasing immigration rhetoric and the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings.

The way Democrats handled the sexual assault allegations levied against Kavanaugh in his Supreme Court confirmation fight is one of the reasons why Scott Carroll, who describes himself as an on-the-fence, conservative-leaning voter, decided to back Kemp.

“The way the Kavanaugh hearing went down really kind of irked me,” the Bowdon contractor said. “I think the Democrats acted improperly . ... I just kind of feel like the Democrats are starting to go off the rails.”

The poll found voter intensity was slightly higher among women and African-Americans than men and white voters. Fewer than one-third of respondents said they saw this year’s midterms as the “same level of importance” as other elections.