Just One-Third of Georgia Voters View Republican Party Favorably, Poll Finds

In the wake of Democratic victories in both the Senate and presidential elections, just one-third of Georgia voters say they have a favorable view of the Republican Party.

A new poll released Saturday by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper shows a majority of Georgia voters have unfavorable views of President Donald Trump, GOP Governor Brian Kemp and the Republican Party as a whole. Thirty-four percent of those surveyed said they have a favorable view of the GOP, while 59 percent have an unfavorable view of the party overall. Meanwhile, exactly half of Georgia voters said they have a favorable view of the Democratic Party, which saw Senate runoff candidates Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff win their respective races on January 5 over GOP incumbents.

Fifty-eight percent of Georgia voters said that Republican members of Congress were trying to "undermine democracy" when 147 of them attempted to stop the formal certification of President Joe Biden's election victory.

Fifty percent of Georgians said they have a favorable view of the Democratic Party, while 44 percent said they view the Democrats unfavorably. Democrat lawmakers including President Joe Biden, and now-senators Ossoff and Warnock each received "favorable" ratings from a thin majority of Georgia voters in the poll. Former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, who was instrumental in registering voters across the state, received a favorable rating from 51 percent of Georgians.

But Georgia voters expressed overwhelmingly negative views toward Kemp (Abrams' former rival for governor) along with Trump and several state-level Republicans. Kemp and GOP Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, both of whom refused requests from Trump to "find" more votes after his election loss, were blasted with negative ratings. A Georgia Republican not included in the poll, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, is facing calls to resign over past social-media posts calling for Democratic leaders to be executed.

Kemp received approval from just 42 percent of voters overall and disapproval from a majority, 51 percent. Thirty-six percent of Republican voters who say they disapprove of the job he's doing as governor. This marks a major downfall for Kemp from one year ago. In a January 2020 poll conducted by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, only 8 percent of Republicans had a negative view of his job performance.

A 58 percent majority of Georgians said they do not believe there was widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election, compared to 38 percent who still dispute the results. Still, 55 percent of Georgia voters said they are concerned about "ineligible voters casting ballots" in the election. One-third of Georgians said a limited amount of candidate options from either party is their biggest concern.

The AJC poll, conducted in tandem with the University of Georgia School of Public and International Affairs, found a 57 percent majority of Georgians believe Trump is responsible for a "great deal" or "good amount" of blame for the January 6 storming of the Capitol. A 57 percent majority of Georgians said they disapprove of the job Trump did in office, while a nearly identical percentage said he deserves a "good amount" of blame for the violent January 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol.

A thin 51 percent majority of Georgia voters said they agree with the House's second impeachment of Trump for his role in allegedly inciting the Capitol attack.

Newsweek reached out to the Georgia GOP for reaction Saturday afternoon.