Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp would be in deep trouble in a Republican primary should former Sen. David Perdue mount a campaign, according to a GOP poll obtained by the Washington Examiner.
The survey, conducted for Republican operatives interested in figuring out the lay of the land in Georgia, showed Kemp leading Perdue 38% to 32%, with Democrat-turned-Republican Vernon Jones picking up 16%. When the pollster presented Perdue as endorsed by former President Donald Trump, he jumped ahead of Kemp and led the incumbent governor 41% to 34%, with Jones garnering 11%. In a head-to-head with Kemp with Trump’s backing, Perdue led 50% to 41%.
This survey is sure to increase speculation that Perdue is leaning toward challenging Kemp in the 2022 Republican gubernatorial primary. His entering the race would be a boon for Trump, who is attempting to recruit a prominent Republican to run against Kemp. The former president blames the governor for his loss to President Joe Biden in Georgia, claiming without evidence that the election was stolen and that top Republicans in the state let it happen.
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On Wednesday, Perdue leaned into a matchup with Kemp, indicating to a Georgia radio host that the governor is to blame for the outcome in 2020. “A lot of people feel … that people in power haven’t fought for them and caved into a lot of things back in 2020 that didn’t have to be done,” he told WDUN. Perdue, who has ruled out a Senate bid, did not elaborate on his 2022 plans.
This poll, conducted by a Republican pollster for GOP operatives monitoring the state of play in Georgia, was in the field Oct. 17-19 and surveyed 600 likely GOP primary voters. The margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points. The Washington Examiner reviewed the data, and is aware of the pollster and who commissioned the survey, but agreed to grant anonymity as a condition for reporting the information.
Among the poll’s findings:
- Trump’s favorable/unfavorable image is 84%/10%, Perdue’s image clocks in at 79%/9%, and Kemp registers a 68% favorable, 22% unfavorable rating, with his favorable rating breaking down as 35% very favorable and 33% somewhat favorable.
- Seventy-eight percent of Republican voters in Georgia believe “significant fraud occurred in the 2020 election,” and just 31% “believe Kemp did enough to prevent voter fraud in the election.”
- Just 33% of GOP voters would vote for Kemp regardless of his Republican competition.
- In the Republican Senate primary in Georgia, former professional football player Herschel Walker, who has been endorsed by Trump, led state Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black by a whopping 72% to 5%.
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Last November, Perdue finished ahead of Ossoff, his Democratic challenger, in the general election. But the Republican incumbent failed to clear 50% of the vote and was forced into a Jan. 5 runoff.
Ossoff narrowly bested Perdue in round two, in part because Trump depressed GOP turnout with his repeated complaints that the 2020 election was stolen and that Georgia’s voting system could not be trusted.
