With just over a week to go until the Georgia Senate elections on January 5, polls show a tight race between incumbent Republican senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue against Democratic opponents Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff.
More than 2 million voters have cast early ballots, according to Georgia Votes early voting data tracking tool. The January 5 election between Kelly Loeffler - Raphael Warnock and David Perdue - Jon Ossoff will determine whether the Democrats or Republicans will majority to control the US Senate in the next Congress.
Newsweek cited FiveThirtyEight's analysis of the average of polls conducted since the November general election, showing Warnock leading Loeffler by 0.6 points on December 24. The Democratic candidate has 48.2% support compared to 47.6% support for Republican opponent Loeffler.
A survey from Insider Advantage and FOX 5 Atlanta released on December 23 showed that Loeffler is 2 percentage points ahead of Warnock, although 4% of respondents said they have not yet decided who to side with.
Warnock also took a slight lead in a survey conducted by Reconnect Research in collaboration with probolsky Research. A survey of 1,000 likely voters shows that Warnock has 43% support, Loeffler follows closely with 42%. However, 15% of respondents have not decided to vote for anyone.
After the Senate election in November, the Republican Party won 50 seats, the Democratic Party had 48 seats. If the Democratic Party won both the race to the Senate next month, most of the Senate will be divided equally between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, and the decision vote will belong to Vice President Kamala Harris, which means that the Democratic Party will take control of the Senate.
However, if only Perdue or Loeffler wins, the Republicans will continue to hold power in the Senate, creating a barrier for the House of Representatives controlled by the Democrats and Democratic President-elect Joe Biden.
In the November Senate election, Warnock beat Loeffler by more than 343,000 votes but none of the candidates passed the 50% threshold needed to win. Warnock received 32.9% of the votes compared to Loeffler's 25.9%.
The decisive nature of the upcoming January 5 election has forced senior party officials to back their corresponding candidates in Georgia. Vice President Mike Pence has held several "Defend the Majority" campaigns, urging Republican voters to vote, saying that Perdue and Loeffler are the "last defense" against the "advanced agenda" of the Democratic Party.
Both President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have held events in Georgia this month. The two are the first Democratic candidates to win Georgia since 1992, turning the state a green state after supporting President Donald Trump in 2016.
"I'm here to say that the decisions you make will affect people you may never meet, people who may never know your name. But because of what you have done and are about to do, their lives will be forever better," Vice President Kamala Harris said at a rally in Columbus last week.
