OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
We are not certain who trusts polls anymore, but if you do then this poll is major for the Georgia Senate contest between Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock and his opponent, Republican Herschel Walker.
“An AARP poll released Tuesday surveying Georgia voters found that Warnock has a slight edge over Walker, 51% to 47%. Warnock holds a strong 24-point lead among voters 18 to 49 years of age, while Walker is up 9 percentage points among Georgia voters ages 50 and over,” Fox News reported.
“According to the poll, 51% of respondents have a favorable opinion of Warnock. Only 45% have a favorable opinion of Walker, while more of the voters surveyed, 49%, have an unfavorable opinion of the political newcomer. The survey revealed that Georgia voters are more fond of former President Donald Trump than current President Joe Biden. Only 43% of respondents approve of the job Biden is currently doing as president, while Trump received a 48% job approval rating for his time in the White House,” the report added.
A state judge in Georgia has issued a ruling favorable to Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock.
According to Bloomberg News, the judge on Friday agreed to allow voting on a Saturday following Thanksgiving after Warnock and Democrats filed a last-minute lawsuit. Warnock is facing off against Trump-backed GOP contender Herschel Walker in a Dec. 6 runoff.
The judge’s ruling prevents Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger from attempts to keep polls closed that day instead.
“Attorneys for Warnock argued that Raffensperger was misreading the state’s new election law and asked Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas Cox to immediately enjoin the ban on voting on the only allowable Saturday before the election,” Bloomberg News reported.
Uzoma Nkwonta, an attorney representing the senator, argued, “Foreclosing voting opportunities has always been considered irreparable harm.”
Bloomberg adds:
That Warnock and the Democratic Party would sue over just one day of casting ballots underscores how much the 2021 GOP election overhaul has derailed early voting in Georgia’s runoff elections. Democrats say curtailing early voting is an attempt to reduce participation by Black Georgians.
Both Warnock and Walker are black.
Later in 2021, the GOP-controlled state Legislature trimmed the runoff period to just four weeks, which led to complaints by Democrats whose constituents tend to vote early. This year, Georgians could only have as little as five days to vote and no more than seven, if Warnock’s lawsuit manages to survive any challenges.
“Georgia’s U.S. Senate race is heading to a runoff, with neither major candidate on track to win a majority of votes. Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and GOP nominee Herschel Walker will face off again on Tuesday, Dec. 6, with the Senate majority potentially on the line for a second straight election cycle in the historically conservative bastion,” Politico reported last week. “Warnock was slightly ahead, with 49 percent of the vote, but Georgia law requires a runoff if no candidate clears 50 percent.”
Currently, Democrats hold a 51-49 seat majority in the upper chamber after doing exceedingly well during a midterm voting cycle that typically does not favor the party in the White House. If Walker were to pull of a victory, the chamber would again be 50-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris serving as tiebreaker.
And not surprisingly, the race has been rocked by scandal.
For instance, the church where Warnock preaches was recently accused of targeting poor residents of an apartment building that it owns in a new scandal that could worsen his chance of winning reelection next month.
According to a report by the Washington Free Beacon, Warnock’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, where the senator serves as a senior pastor, “drawing a salary as well as a generous $7,417 monthly housing allowance—has moved to evict disadvantaged residents from an apartment building it owns, one of whom it tried to push out on account of merely $28.55 in past-due rent.”
This, after Warnock noted on Twitter as he campaigned for his office in 2020: “Unemployment benefits have expired, rent is due today, and many Georgia families are at risk of eviction in the middle of a pandemic,” adding that by failing to act, his political opponents were “clearly only concerned with serving their own interests.”
