Jackson Leads Bottoms in Georgia Governor Race
ActiVote’s October 20, 2026 Georgia Governor poll finds that Republican Rick Jackson leads Democrat Keisha Bottoms by 3.0%. The poll was in the field between October 6 and October 20 (median field date of October 13). The poll was among 400 likely midterm voters and has an average expected error of 4.9%.
Jackson leads among rural voters, voters aged 50 and older, men, White voters, voters on middle incomes, college-educated voters and graduate degree holders. Bottoms leads among suburban and urban voters, voters under 50, women, Black and Latino voters, voters on low and high incomes and voters with no more than a high school education. These group figures rest on subsamples for which the expected error is considerably larger than the 4.9% for the poll as a whole. Georgia does not register voters by party, so we do not report a breakdown by party affiliation.
Political Spectrum
The following graph shows the support for Jackson and Bottoms among left, moderate left, center, moderate right, and right voters. These groups are defined by splitting the Georgia electorate in 5 equal sized groups of 20% each.
Both candidates hold their own side about equally firmly. Bottoms takes 100% of the left and 88% of the moderate left, while Jackson takes 93% of the right and 95% of the moderate right. The race is decided in the center, where Jackson leads by 57% to 43%.
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 | 400 LV | Unweighted | Weighted | Rick Jackson | Keisha Bottoms |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National | ±4.9% MoE | 100% | 100% | 51.5% | 48.5% |
| Political Spectrum | Left | 46% | 20% | 0% | 100% |
| Moderate Left | 29% | 20% | 12% | 88% | |
| Center | 9% | 20% | 57% | 43% | |
| Moderate Right | 7% | 20% | 95% | 5% | |
| Right | 8% | 20% | 93% | 7% | |
| Region | rural | 34% | 38% | 67% | 33% |
| suburban | 46% | 43% | 48% | 52% | |
| urban | 20% | 19% | 28% | 72% | |
| Age | 18-29 | 27% | 15% | 41% | 59% |
| 30-49 | 31% | 29% | 48% | 52% | |
| 50-64 | 23% | 25% | 52% | 48% | |
| 65+ | 18% | 31% | 59% | 41% | |
| Gender | F | 49% | 54% | 46% | 54% |
| M | 51% | 46% | 59% | 41% | |
| Ethnicity | White | 53% | 54% | 72% | 28% |
| Black | 34% | 36% | 22% | 78% | |
| Latino | 8% | 5% | 46% | 54% | |
| Income | Low | 15% | 24% | 38% | 62% |
| Middle | 39% | 30% | 67% | 33% | |
| High | 47% | 46% | 49% | 51% | |
| Education | HS | 19% | 23% | 40% | 60% |
| College | 66% | 62% | 54% | 46% | |
| Grad | 15% | 14% | 61% | 39% |