Home / News /

IA poll: Obama, national Dems a big drag on Barnes in Georgia

September 1, 2010 — An InsiderAdvantage and WSB-TV poll released Wednesday shows that President Barack Obama is a huge liability for former Gov. Roy Barnes as the Democrat tries to regain the post he lost nearly eight years ago.

Some 718 registered, likely voters were asked if they would base their vote for governor on whether they believed President Barack Obama and the national Democratic Party were doing a fair or a poor job.

Sixty-seven percent said “yes” while 24 percent said “no.”

Given that 64 percent of Georgians disapprove of Obama’s job performance while just 35 percent approve, that’s a big problem for Barnes, said InsiderAdvantage CEO and WSB TV political analyst Matt Towery.

“This has nothing to do with Roy Barnes and nothing to do with the Democratic Party of Georgia. It is a national problem that is seeping down and infecting the Democratic Party in the state of Georgia,” the pollster told WSB-TV’s Lori Geary.

“These numbers are in line with what we’re seeing all over the country and what we’re seeing nationwide, and it’s not good news. The Democrats are going to have to find a way to really separate themselves from Barack Obama and the Congress,” Towery said.

He added: “The Barnes strategy has to be, ‘I’m really a Republican.’ If he doesn’t do that, given the fact that the number of independents are dropping, he can’t win.”