Will Apathy Cost Ossoff His Senate Seat? New Polling Shows Collins in Lead Among Older Voters

A recent poll on Georgia elections shows Rep. Mike Collins leads Sen. Jon Ossoff among older voters in the race for U.S. Senate. Will votes by older Georgians cost the incumbent senator his job?

In a poll conducted July 13-16 by Fabrizio Ward and Impact Research for AARP, Rep. Mike Collins leads voters over the age of 65 by 24 points.

According to the respondents surveyed, both candidates hold leads among different demographic groups.

Ossoff leads the race among younger voters by 30 points, according to the poll, which surveyed 1,060 likely voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

“It’s no surprise that Georgia’s most seasoned voters recognize Mike Collins as the clear choice. They can easily distinguish Mike’s proven record from Jon Ossoff’s socialist rhetoric,” a spokesperson for the Collins campaign told the Daily Signal.

In an email, an Ossoff campaign spokesperson took a jab at Collins, saying, “Mike Collins has voted to gut Social Security and has expressed support for raising the retirement age, slashing the Social Security budget, and making it harder for seniors to get the benefits they’ve earned.”

TRENDING ARTICLES

news

Residents Voice Opposition to Proposed Mosque Ahead of City Council Vote

Emily Medeiros

news

10 States Checked Their Voter Rolls With a DHS Database to Find Startling Info

Fred Lucas

opinion

Victor Davis Hanson: Changing Voting Laws Only Benefits the Left

Victor Davis Hanson

In a key race that might determine control of the Senate, the outcome could come down to which age group has the most motivation to show up on Election Day.

Dr. Bernard Fraga, a professor of political science at Emory University, says older voters tend to vote more frequently than younger voters.

“Older Americans vote more than younger Americans for a variety of reasons, but one important reason is that older voters tend to be more rooted in their communities and therefore more engaged with state and local politics overall,” he told the Daily Signal in an email.

According to the poll, 88% of older voters, particularly those age 50 and older, rated their motivation to vote at 10 out of 10. Just 62% of voters under the age of 50 rated their motivation to vote at the same motivation level.

Among older voters, Collins holds a significant lead—for respondents ages 50 and older, Collins leads Ossoff 53%-45%. However, the poll shows Ossoff leading Collins overall by 9 points, 52%-43%. Five percent of respondents said they were undecided.

Dr. Alan Abramowitz, a professor of political science at Emory University, says the trend among older voters today is similar to patterns seen in Ossoff’s previous races.

“The same pattern of support by different age groups was evident in Ossoff’s 2020 contests against David Perdue, based on exit polls,” he told the Daily Signal in an email.

According to Abramowitz, racial composition is related to the poll’s disparities among age demographics. “Older voting groups include a much higher proportion of white voters than younger age groups,” he said.

He concluded by stating, “President Trump is quite unpopular in Georgia, and this is undoubtedly helping Ossoff and other Democratic candidates.”

Dr. Charles Bullock III, a professor of political science at the University of Georgia, said older voters definitely play an important role in elections.

“Think about the various age groups, usually about 10-year categories. When you get about 65, they all get lumped together, and that is almost always, for every election I’ve looked at, that is the largest single component in terms of those who have cast ballots,” he said.

Bullock added that the category of seniors accounts for nearly 25% of the total turnout of voters, and that when it comes to the composition of voters, older voters “tend to be the most Republican.”

CONCLUSION

According to Newsweek’s report on the poll results, Ossoff’s audience consists of younger voters and minorities. That corresponds with Abramowitz’s view that racial background can vary from age group to age group among voters.

Collins, on the other hand, draws in older voters who tend to lean more Republican.

Another potential factor in the outcome of the race is voting by independents. Ossoff leads among independents by 20 points, according to the poll results.

Control of the Georgia seat, and even potentially the U.S. Senate, may come down to which generation of Georgians decides to show up and let their votes be counted in November.