Rural Ga. voters played a big role helping Trump, stats show
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - On Tuesday night, Georgia was one of the first states called for Donald Trump.
Early voting data from Landmark Communications shows that Trump’s wide margin was solidified by his appeal in rural Georgia.
Why did Georgians vote the way they did? AU expert weighs in
Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the United States on Wednesday, an extraordinary comeback for a former president who refused to accept defeat four years ago, sparked a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts.
Polling analyst Mark Rountree found in rural counties, more than 180,000 Georgians voted in 2024 who didn’t vote in 2020.
Trump saw the most success in Jackson, Long, Pickens, Dawson, Banks, and Jasper counties, with voter differences between 19-25%.
How election night went, according to Richmond County Board of Elections
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In metro counties, there was little to no shift in preference or turnout in the counties surrounding Atlanta.
Those counties include Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Dekalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry and Rockdale. Some 36% of voters voted for Trump in 2020 and 36% voted for Trump again in 2024.
“Just under 150 counties constituted an increase of about 180,000 net votes casting their ballots from 2020 to 2024, and this had a very real impact on the final outcome because almost all of them ended up going for Trump. In contrast that with the metro Atlanta counties where the vote was nearly identical to what it was in 2020. The turnout was nearly the same. The Trump was nearly the same, and it didn’t have a big impact on the difference,” said Rountree.
Five of the counties where Harris performed the best in 2024 had lower turnout numbers compared to the presidential race in 2020.
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His data shows Harris’ ability to motivate Black voters in Georgia was not as successful as President Joe Biden’s race in 2020.
“I think that the democratic operatives may do less work trying to get celebrity entertainment and more talking about the economy and kitchen table issues,” said Rountree.
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