A majority of voters in Tuesday’s Georgia Senate runoff said the 2020 presidential election was conducted fairly in the state — and an even greater share said they expected that Tuesday’s votes would be counted accurately — but there was a significant division along party lines.
Fifty-six percent of voters said the 2020 presidential election was run fairly in Georgia, while 4 in 10 said it was not, according to NBC News Exit Poll of early and Election Day voters.
There were stark differences by party: 93 percent of Georgia Senate runoff voters who identify as Democrats thought the presidential election was conducted fairly, while only 21 percent of Republicans agreed. Among independents, 58 percent said the election was conducted fairly.
When asked about the vote count for Tuesday’s runoff election, 73 percent of voters said they were very or somewhat confident that the votes would be counted accurately, according to the NBC News Exit Poll of early and in-person voters.
Only 26 percent said they were not confident that the votes would be counted accurately.
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Still, voters had less confidence in the vote count on Tuesday than they did in November, when 84 percent of Georgia Senate voters said they were confident votes in their state would be counted accurately in the general election.
President Donald Trump has attacked the validity of the 2020 election results in many states, including Georgia. After President-elect Joe Biden narrowly beat Trump in Georgia in November, the president and his allies have claimed that thousands of unregistered voters, felons and dead people cast votes in the state. Georgia election officials have debunked those claims, and have also shot down conspiracy theories claiming that votes were doctored or voting machines were compromised.
On Tuesday, 96 percent of Democrats said they were very or somewhat confident that votes would be counted accurately, compared to 71 percent of independents and 53 percent of Republicans, according to the exit poll.
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Tuesday’s runoff pits former Sen. David Perdue, a Republican, against Jon Ossoff, a Democrat, while Sen. Kelly Loeffler, also a Republican, faces Democratic challenger Raphael Warnock. Control of the U.S. Senate hangs in the balance of the closely watched race.
The NBC News Exit Poll was conducted with voters as they left polling places in Georgia on Tuesday. To account for the high number of early and absentee voters and ensure a sample that accurately represents all Georgians, the exit poll also includes extensive interviews with in-person early voters, as well a telephone survey.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
