White voters solidly in for GOP in Georgia [View all]

By Aaron Gould Sheinin

With Georgia once again a safe haven for the Republican presidential candidate, Democrats here gaze longingly at North Carolina and Virginia and wonder: Why can’t that be us?

Those two southern states turned blue in 2008, with Barack Obama capturing both on his way to becoming the 44th president of the United States. (Meanwhile, John McCain carried Georgia 52-47.)

Now, just weeks from the Nov. 6 general election, Virginia and North Carolina are again in play while Georgia has been little more than a drive-through bank for both sides. To understand why, Georgia Democrats need look no further than their inability to attract white voters.

In Obama’s first bid for the White House he received just 23 percent of the white vote here, compared to 39 percent in Virginia and 34 percent in North Carolina, according to exit polls. As of last week, Obama had the support of just 22 percent of Georgia’s likely white voters, according to a poll conducted for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and released Sunday.


http://www.ajc.com/news/news/georgias-white-voters-elude-democrats/nSdq4/