Poll shows Ossoff support increasing after debate

ATLANTA — The latest exclusive WSB, Landmark Communications Poll shows Democrat Jon Ossoff got a slight bump over Republican Karen Handel after his debate performance Tuesday night on Channel 2.

The new poll shows 49.6 percent of the 420 likely voters polled June 6-7 said they would vote for Ossoff, a half-point increase from last week’s poll.

On the other side, 47.1 percent said they would vote for Handel, a half-point decrease from last week.

But with 3.3 percent undecided and a margin of error of 4.78 percent, Landmark Communications pollster Mark Rountree said the race remains too close to call.

“It’s still definitely a dead heat,” Rountree said. “Nothing has changed in the scheme of the whole campaign. Nothing has changed in the sense that this really does come down to getting out the vote.”

Rountree points out that more than half of the 420 likely voters polled said they watched the debate, which he said was a huge number.

The poll shows Republicans and Democrats watched it almost evenly.

When asked who they thought won, 50.8 percent thought Ossoff did, while 36.9 percent thought Handel came out on top. Only 12.3 percent thought it was a tie.

“I think this is a bump,” said Rountree. “Most viewers felt that Ossoff won the debate. Jon Ossoff had an edge. It’s not an overwhelming victory, but it was enough to cause a slight edge for him in the poll.”

Early voting in the Sixth Congressional race is already underway. Election Day is June 20.

REACTION

The Ossoff campaign sent us the following statement: "After two disastrous debates in which Karen Handel was forced to admit she led the effort to defund breast cancer screenings while at Susan G. Komen, it's clear Georgia voters want fresh, independent leadership in Washington, not another career politician."

The Handel campaign sent us the following statement: "Our internal numbers show that this is truly a toss-up. Karen has faced an unprecedented flood of out-of-state money -- raised from Nancy Pelosi and the "resistance" -- to fund ads falsely attacking Karen. We are confident that the people of the 6^th are not going to let Pelosi's puppet steal a seat in Georgia."

Cox Media Group