The final polls conducted in the Georgia Senate runoff races between Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler versus Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, respectively, show each contest in a dead heat one day before the election.
Polls released Monday ahead of the long-awaited January 5 Georgia runoff election, which could enable Democrats to regain control of the U.S. Senate, show Perdue and Ossoff at 50 percent apiece, while Warnock holds a tiny 50 to 49 percent advantage over Loeffler.
Both races are well within the margin of error and the latest PollSmart MR online poll aggregate conducted by Targoz Market Research shows fewer than one percent of likely Election Day voters are still undecided in who they will vote for Tuesday.
The dead heat in the final polls conducted ahead of the Senate runoff are little different from the tight polling numbers that came out just before the November 3 general election. Because none of the candidates received more than 50 percent of the vote, Georgia's state election laws required this runoff contest.
The University of Georgia and Atlanta Journal-Constitution polls conducted just prior to November 3 also showed both contests in a dead heat, although Warnock at one point appeared to have opened up a notable lead against Loeffler.
FiveThirtyEight poll numbers released Monday show the Democratic Senate candidates with slight advantages over their Republican incumbent opponents. Warnock is holding onto a two-point lead over Loeffler while Ossoff has a 1.4 percentage point lead over Loeffler. But again, both pieces of polling data are within the margin of error.
"We aren't planning to make probabilistic forecasts in Georgia, but it's safe to say that a 'polls-only' view of the runoffs would put each race at about 50:50," FiveThirtyEight founder Nate Silver said of the poll numbers.
The tight Georgia race has become the focus of national attention and will be the scene of several high-profile political rallies Monday. President-elect Joe Biden and President Donald Trump are each set to hold campaign events for their respective party Senate candidates. Vice President Mike Pence is set to make an appearance in the state Monday, just one day after Vice President-elect Kamala Harris held an event in Georgia.
Silver remarked last Wednesday that "many prestigious pollsters [are] sitting the Georgia runoffs out" despite the dead heat race. National pollsters were once again ridiculed following the November 3 general elections in which races believed to be tight were not and vice versa.
Newsweek reached out to each of the Georgia Senate runoff candidates for additional remarks ahead of the Tuesday elections but did not hear back by publishing.
