Deal's lead over Barnes in gov race narrows

ATLANTA - A new poll shows Republican Nathan Deal lead over Democrat Roy Barnes in the race for Georgia governor has narrowed.

The poll, conducted earlier this week, shows Deal, a former Georgia Congressman from Gainesville, with 45 percent of the vote compared with 41 percent for Barnes. Barnes, a lawyer from Mableton, is vying to take back his old job as Georgia governor after he was unseated by Gov. Sonny Perdue in 2002.

The poll also shows two Republican incumbents with wide leads over their Democratic challengers.

U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson has 52 percent compared with Michael Thurmond's 33 percent. Thurmond, the Georgia labor commissioner, is aiming to become the first black senator in the South since Reconstruction.

In the lieutenant governor's race, incumbent Casey Cagle has 47 percent compared with 28 percent for Carol Porter. Porter is the wife of state House Minority Leader Dubose Porter, who lost the Democratic primary for governor to Barnes.

The poll also showed that Barnes maintains a massive lead among black voters with 83 percent, while Deal only got 5 percent. Deal is supported by 58 percent of white voters, compared to Barnes' 27 percent.

Women are more likely to vote for Barnes - 44 percent, compared to Deal's 40 percent - while the former Congressman got 51 percent of male voters, compared to Barnes' 37 percent.

The poll was taken Monday and Tuesday, before The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's report that Deal could lose everything after investing $2 million and borrowing another $2 million for his daughter and son-in-law's failed business.

Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. of Washington, D.C., interviewed 625 likely voters by phone for the poll. Thirteen daily newspapers with readership across Georgia paid for it.

The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.