As of Wednesday evening, it’s still unclear which presidential candidate will capture Georgia and all of its 16 electoral votes.
The winner of the state will be decided if the next President of the United States will be former Vice President Joe Biden or President Donald Trump.
While we wait for the final votes to be tallied, an in-depth survey of more than 3,000 voters in Georgia by the Associated Press is providing insight into what drove their decisions.
According to the survey, the most important issue on voters' minds is the coronavirus pandemic. Of the more than 3,200 Georgia voters asked, 38% said it was the most important issue facing the country. That was followed the economy and jobs (28%) and racism (11%).
Biden faired better with those voters who said the coronavirus and racism were important issues, while Trump did better with Georgia voters who said the economy, immigration and law enforcement were the most important issues.
But despite the fact that a majority of voters disapprove of how Trump has handled the pandemic (48% approve, 52% disapprove), Trump was still held an advantage with voters over 65 years old, those considered most at risk to the sometimes deadly coronavirus, with a 26% to 20% advantage.
Vote count confidence
The Associated Press said it has not declared a winner in Georgia’s presidential contest because the race is too early to call, with outstanding ballots left to be counted in counties where Biden has performed well.
Early Wednesday, Trump prematurely claimed he carried Georgia — and several other states that were too early to call.
“It’s ... clear that we have won Georgia. We’re up by 2.5%, or 117,000 (votes) with only 7% (of the vote) left” to count, Trump said during an early morning appearance at the White House. He also said he planned to contest the U.S. presidential election before the Supreme Court. It was unclear exactly what legal action he might pursue.
AP said the race is too early to call because an estimated 4% of the vote still remains to be counted. That includes mailed ballots from two counties Biden is winning: metro Atlanta’s DeKalb County, as well as Chatham County, which is home to Savannah.
The AP survey asked voters in Georgia how confident they are that votes will be counted accurately.
It found that voters on both sides are suspicious of the vote tallying process.
When asked, “Thinking about the presidential election in the U.S., how confident are you that votes will be counted accurately?”
Biden supporters don’t trust the counting only saying they’re 25% very confident and 75% less confident. The same is true for Trump supporters only 19% are very confident while 80% are less confident.