Pollsters Matt Towery and Robert Cahaly said Wednesday that Republicans need to “cling to” President Donald Trump and hot button issues to win the Georgia Senate runoff elections.
Towery, of Insider Advantage polling and Cahaly, chief pollster with the Trafalgar Group — both Republican-leaning polling outlets — told Fox News’ “Hannity” that the Senate race is extremely tight and too close to call.
Both Republican Georgia Sen. David Perdue and his Republican colleague Sen. Kelly Loeffler are locked in a runoff election with Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, respectively. A Thursday Emerson poll has both Perdue and Loeffler leading opponents 51% to 48%.
“They … need to cling to Donald Trump. Donald Trump is what will get them over the edge. Because they’ve got to get that turnout in central, middle and north Georgia,” said Towery.
Towery said Republicans also need to be focused on issues that arouse emotional responses in voters. “For example, the Atlanta city jail is virtually being shut down. Our poll shows people can’t stand that. They need to use an issue like that.”
Cahaly said that the election is “extremely close” and “certainly outside of the realm of anything that can be put to bed.” (RELATED: Two Pollsters Who Predicted Trump’s 2016 Victory, Analyze The State Of The Race)
The pollster said that early voting has “leaned a little bit Democratic” as was anticipated, but that there’s less of it than there was in the 2020 presidential election.
“But it definitely is going to play a factor. But this thing is extremely close … No laws have been changed so we’re expecting lots of ballots with missing signatures and all kinds of hijinx again,” he said in reference to unproven accusations from the Trump campaign that massive voter fraud occurred during the Nov. 3 election.
Cahaly said voters in Georgia are very concerned with a potential name change coming for the Atlanta Braves baseball team in the light of reports that Cleveland’s major league franchise will drop “Indians” from its title.
He noted that Perdue and Loeffler issued a joint statement that they would both “adamantly oppose” any efforts to change the name of the Braves in accordance with current political correctness. (RELATED: Pollster: Trump On Track For Reelection With ‘Hidden’ Voter Support)
“I think these politicians need to keep in mind elections aren’t won on the issues politicians care about. They’re won on the issues that voters care about and the voters in Georgia care very much about this issue and the Braves. They stand with them and they stand with politicians who stand with them,” Cahaly said.
U.S. Sen David Perdue (R-GA) and Sen Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) speaks at a campaign event to supporters at a restaurant on Nov. 13, 2020 in Cumming, Georgia. There is a runoff election between Loeffler and Democratic opponent Raphael Warnock scheduled for Jan. 5, along with a second Senate runoff between Republican incumbent David Perdue and Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff. (Photo by Megan Varner/Getty Images).
Polling analyst FiveThirtyEight has assessed Insider Advantage and the Trafalgar Group as polling analyst FiveThirtyEight as having a B- and C- rating respectively, based on their group’s accuracy and methodology.
The Trafalgar Group placed emphasized the importance of the “shy Trump voter” during the 2020 presidential election but FiveThirtyEight questioned that phenomenon.