President Trump and former vice president Joe Biden are locked in a tight race for Georgia’s 16 electoral college votes. The last time Republicans seriously worried about losing the state was in 1992, and Georgia has added more than 2 million voters since, most of them in Atlanta and its increasingly Democratic suburbs. The math only changed as the electorate got larger and more diverse.
In 2004, when Democrats made no effort in the state, 70 percent of all voters were White, according to exit polls. In 2016, the White share of the electorate fell to 60 percent, and Democrats won the state’s suburban Cobb and Gwinnett counties for the first time since Jimmy Carter won the presidency.
Georgia went for Trump in 2016 by a margin of about five points. Democrats added to their gains there in 2018, but Republicans held out with landslide support from White voters north and south of Atlanta.
The Post is publishing preliminary results from national and state exit polls that allow readers to explore demographic trends in the 2020 vote. These surveys randomly sample voters in three ways: in-person, as they exited voting places on or before Election Day, and by telephone, through a survey of more than 25,000 early voters, to help account for the huge increase of votes cast early.
Containing the coronavirus now, even if it hurts the economy51% of voters
16%
83%
Rebuilding the economy now, even if it hurts efforts to contain the coronavirus44%
83%
16%
Senate exit poll
In one of two Georgia U.S. Senate races this year, the incumbent, David Perdue, a Republican, is headed to a runoff against Jon Ossoff, a Democrat. Perdue has represented Georgia in the Senate since 2015.
The other U.S. Senate race in Georgia also has the incumbent, Kelly Loeffler, headed to a runoff against Raphael Warnock, a Democrat. Loeffler, who has represented Georgia in the Senate since January when she was appointed by the state’s governor to fill a vacant seat, outpaced her Republican challenger, congressman Doug Collins.
Who won each group in Georgia
Groups that candidates won by six or more percentage points
Containing the coronavirus now, even if it hurts the economy51% of voters
62%
10%
8%
14%
Rebuilding the economy now, even if it hurts efforts to contain the coronavirus44%
11%
49%
34%
4%
Methodology
Preliminary national and state exit poll results from interviews of randomly selected voters as they exited voting places across the country on Nov. 3, as well as from voters exiting early voting locations. Early voters were also reached through a telephone survey. The polls were conducted by Edison Research for the National Election Pool, The Washington Post and other media organizations. Results are weighted to match vote tallies by region and to correct for differential participation by subgroup.
Donald Trump
Joe Biden