McCain leads Clinton & Obama in Georgia

According to numbers released by the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, 1,060,851 Georgians voted in the Democratic primary. Numbers like those would normally be something that Democrats in the Peach State could crow about. Unfortunately, Insider Advantage Georgia is out with a poll that’s being described as a “Red State reality check.”

If the election were held today:

McCain: 47 percent
Clinton: 40 percent
No Opinion/Undecided: 13 percent

McCain: 48 percent
Obama: 40 percent
No Opinion/Undecided: 12 percent

In both contests independents voters said they would vote for McCain by a 52 percent-to-30 percent margin. Among Democrats, 75 percent said they would vote for Clinton. Sixty-nine percent of Democrats said they would vote for Obama. In all cases the small remainder of identified Republicans and Democrats overwhelmingly said they were undecided. [Source: 2/14/2008 Augusta Chronicle article "A Red State reality check: Georgia big for McCain if vote held today"]

I know a lot of people will say Georgia is a deep crimson red state, and no Democrat has a chance here, but if this trend continues across the south, you’ll have a situation where the Democratic nominee starts the General Election campaign already behind one-third in the electoral college (FYI, southern states make up a third of the electoral votes).