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About three-quarters of voters who backed Republican candidates in Georgia's Senate runoffs say President-elect Joe Biden was not legitimately elected in November, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of voters in Tuesday's high-stakes Senate contests.

The poll of voters measured how deeply President Donald Trump's false claims of fraud and misconduct have resonated with Republicans in the state. It comes as more than 

100 Republicans in Congress have said they will mount an extraordinary challenge to Biden's victory

a decision that is sharply dividing the party.

Senate runoff elections in Georgia

Despite the courts, state officials and the Justice Department finding no evidence of widespread voter fraud, roughly 9 in 10 of the Republicans' backers said they lacked confidence that votes in November's presidential contest were accurately counted. Half said they have no confidence at all in the vote count. That's roughly five times as many Republicans who said in November they had no confidence that votes would be counted accurately.

AP VoteCast surveyed more than 3,600 voters in the 

runoff elections that will determine which party will control the U.S. Senate

. The poll points to a partisan divide that has only worsened since November and suggests Biden may find it difficult to stitch the nation back together as it battles a resurgent pandemic and weakened economy.

Trump's made-up claims of fake Georgia votes

He'll 'fight like hell' to hold on to presidency

While about 8 in 10 Republican voters approve of how Trump has handled the results of the election, Democratic voters almost universally disapprove. Most Democrats are very confident that votes were counted accurately.

If both Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock win in Georgia, their party would hold half of the 100 Senate seats, with Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris as the tiebreaker. But if their respective opponents, David Perdue and Sen. Kelly Loeffler, triumph, the GOP would have a slim Senate majority to challenge Biden and the Democrats running the House of Representatives.

About 6 in 10 Georgia voters said that control of the Senate was the single most important factor in their choice. However, Republican backers were more likely to prioritize holding a Senate majority than Democratic supporters.

With Biden winning Georgia by just 11,779 votes in November, the Senate races will likely be decided by turnout. Democratic areas performed strongly in early voting, suggesting that Republicans needed a strong showing of supporters to cast ballots Tuesday.

The Democratic get-out-the-vote operation appears to have been broader. About 6 in 10 Georgia voters said they were contacted on behalf of the Democratic candidates ahead of the election, compared to roughly half who were reached on behalf of the Republicans.

The election came after Congress and Trump approved an additional $900 billion in aid for an economy still muddling through the coronavirus outbreak. The spending package included expanded jobless benefits, $600 in direct payments to individuals earning up to $75,000 annually, and $284 billion to help smaller employers meet their payrolls.

About 7 in 10 Georgia voters say Congress is doing too little to help the financial situations of individual Americans and small businesses in response to the pandemic. That view was held by majorities of Democratic and Republican voters alike, though roughly a quarter of Loeffler and Perdue voters said Congress was providing the right amount of assistance.

The candidates' experience was a source of debate in both campaigns. Neither Ossoff, a 33-year-old media executive, nor Warnock, 51, the senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church, a congregation once led by civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., has held public office.

Republican Loeffler was appointed to the Senate in 2019 after a career in the financial sector, having accrued a family fortune estimated to be roughly $500 million in large part from her husband's position as the chairman of the Intercontinental Exchange.

Voters are closely split over whether Ossoff, Warnock or Loeffler each have the “right experience to serve effectively as senator,” while about two-thirds say Perdue does. Perdue was elected to the Senate in 2014, but the term of the former CEO of Dollar General expired Sunday.

Both Republican candidates have faced scrutiny for extensive stock trades in office. A majority of voters, 56 percent, say they are very or somewhat concerned about allegations that Perdue and Loeffler engaged in insider stock trading. That includes about 2 in 10 of their own backers.

Democrats, meanwhile, were branded as “radicals” and “socialist” by their GOP rivals. The poll found voters were slightly more likely to view the Democratic candidates as being “too extreme” in their political views. About half say Warnock and Ossoff are, compared with about 4 in 10 for Perdue and Loeffler.

The Associated Press

Author

About three-quarters of voters who backed Republican candidates in Georgia’s Senate runoffs say President-elect Joe Biden was not legitimately elected in November. 

Officers stand between two groups of protesters

AP VoteCast: GOP voters in Georgia back Trump's false claims

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