Republicans may be stabilizing their position in a conservative Georgia House seat that Democrats were threatening to flip in an upcoming special election.
That’s what a GOP super PAC aligned with Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., believes after reviewing fresh polling that examined the impact of its multimillion investment to hold the metropolitan Atlanta 6th District, formerly held by President Trump’s Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price.
The survey for the Congressional Leadership Fund suggests that Democrat Jon Ossoff’s image has worsened since the GOP super PAC hit local television with a $2.2 million ad buy. Ossoff, the consensus Democratic candidate in the April 18 contest, was on the rise and threatening to top 50 percent, avoiding a runoff and winning outright.
“In just one week, Ossoff has stalled on the ballot, and most importantly, he is now underwater with more voters viewing him unfavorably (38% favorable, 47% unfavorable). This is a large swing from last week when he was +17 (43% favorable, 26% unfavorable),” Republican pollster Greg Strimple wrote, in a polling memo he prepared for CLF.
The memo was obtained by the Washington Examiner; it was first reported by Politico Pro. The poll surveyed 400 likely special election voters. It had a margin of error of 4.9 percentage points.
By a margin of 62 percent to 26 percent, voters would prefer a candidate who supports Ryan’s agenda over a candidate who supports that of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
Republican insiders still expect a close race. But they’re hopeful that the attention paid to the contest by CLF and the National Republican Congressional Committee, which launched its own ad campaign last week, will ensure that the district performs according to its political leanings.
Democrats have seen an uptick in activism since Trump’s victory, and the party is investing significant resources to see if they can flip the seat. Democrats also are using the campaign to test strategy in advance of the 2018 midterm elections.
Some political insiders on both sides of the aisle have speculated that the Republicans’ failure to repeal and replace Obamacare could lead to diminished GOP enthusiasm in Georgia’s 6th District — and turnout — in this month’s special election.
