James_May-June_2026_web - Flipbook - Page 70
thirsty voters” complaint by Democrats and their news media allies.
I have probably seen more politics
in my life than most journalists will
ever see. (When you start at age
10 under the Gold Dome you can
make such a claim). Yet I have never
seen anyone ask for water while
waiting to vote in a November election. And, yes, water can be made
available. Oh, and there can be no
massive mailing of absentee ballots.
Bottom line: Had all of these
voting reforms been in place in January of 2021, Senator Ossoff would
likely be Mr. Ossoff.
Which Voters Will Turn Out?
Democrats seem highly motivated to turn out to vote this year.
The question is will Republicans
be? First, let’s define what a Republican is in Georgia. If someone
is white, over age 60, considers
themselves well educated and
financially successful, and live in
the immediate Metro-Atlanta area,
they are likely voting Democrat. It’s
a self-image peer group dynamic.
Most younger voters are solidly Republican— particularly those
with kids and especially in the
Atlanta ex-urbs (where home values are growing much faster than
those in the immediate metro area).
Ditto for most any county outside
of the Atlanta area that is not part
of a decently sized city.
What will motivate those voters
to turn out? Ossoff’s own words
and votes. Let’s start with his shrill
call to impeach President Donald
Trump. Our company InsiderAdvantage is one of a handful of polling
firms to accurately poll Trump’s
three presidential contests. There
is a very specific way in which we
find “shy” Trump voters and weight
the data. It tells me that our surveys
for RealClearPolitics, which show
Trump’s favorable approval bouncing between 45 and 54 percent, to
be far more accurate. Trump’s most
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JAMES M AY/JU N E 2 02 6
Had all of these voting
reforms been in place
in January of 2021,
Senator Osso昀昀 would
likely be Mr. Osso昀昀.
devoted voters have no use for any
candidate who is not true to him,
and all too many sat out the 2022
midterms because Trump wasn’t
on the ballot. He is not on the ballot
this time, but Ossoff’s impeachment
rhetoric puts him on it by proxy.
Messaging and Democrat
Radicalism are Big Factors
If I had to predict the cookie
cutter and crummy national GOP
consulting class’s approach, they
will wait until after the primary to
start trying to drive Ossoff’s negatives up with a tired old “too liberal
for Georgia” approach. Using that
cliché has lost many a potentially
strong GOP Senate nominee’s race.
Instead, they should use the
money they usually waste to educate voters about Trump’s position
on various policy issues that are
ignored or reported in a slanted
way by the mainstream media.
Start with Trump’s advocacy
for the removal of criminals, such as
the killer of Laken Riley, and Ossoff’s oh-so-rich comments on illegal
immigration and ICE. Consider this
message: “Impeach Trump? No, you
can protect President Trump and
impeach and remove Jon Ossoff, by
getting everyone you know to join
you in voting in November.”
Wouldn’t that be a novel approach? It actually promotes a real
cause and issues a call to action.
The list of other potential issues
where Ossoff has opposed Trump
positions is myriad. For example,
Ossoff is a huge supporter of the
expensive “Green New Deal.” It’s the
program that allowed the Biden administration, during its final days, to
shovel out massive amounts of money to non-government organizations
with no purpose or track record.
Another example: Remind voters
of Stacey Abrams and her alleged
money haul After all, twice-defeated gubernatorial candidate Abrams
isn’t exactly the most popular Democrat among African-American men
in the state.
All this brings us to the “Dream
Team.” Should Democrats nominate former Atlanta Mayor Keisha
Lance Bottoms for governor, it’s
game on. She was without a doubt
the worst mayor of Atlanta anyone
can recall. And her policies and
positions align with Ossoff’s. They
led her to be unelectable and sent
her packing to work in the White
House for another unpopular
Democrat, Joe Biden. Certainly the
GOP would treat them as an inseparable ticket.
Remember that last November
the oh-so-enlightened independent
voters in Virginia fell for Abigail
Spanberger’s line that she was a
“moderate.” But once the public
learned how liberal she truly is, her
popularity began to plummet. That
could happen with Ossoff.
Georgia is a basically one newspaper state where the tradition
used to be to fire off a cannon when
a Democrat won the White House.
Although that tradition died, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution is known
nationally as center-left. It’s hard
to get an objective read on Ossoff
with that publication. But a smart
national GOP and Senate campaign
can educate Georgians and put the
AJC’s most hated politician, Donald
Trump, on the ballot. Of course, the
key word there is “smart.” That’s a
big ask given past performance. Yet
until proven wrong by the GOP consultancy mob, I still rate the race
advantage Ossoff.
