ATLANTA (AP) – In Atlanta’s Chastain Park, investment bank logos touch on advertisements for pizzerias and dentists on the outer fences of baseball diamonds. Scattered between Dodges and Toyotas are Audis and Alfa Romeos.
Some of Georgia’s wealthiest voters, previously trusted pillars of the state’s once-rising Republican majority, live in multi-million dollar homes here. They may be influenced by Joe Biden’s pleas to give him a chance to govern, electing Democrats in Georgia’s second round on January 5 to decide which party controls the US Senate. Or they may be Republicans who voted against President Donald Trump in November, but will return home to the Republican Party, seeking divided government and low taxes.
George Peterson and his wife said they would call themselves Republicans, but they voted for Biden in November because of “Trump’s lack of leadership and moral character”.
But on Saturday they voted in advance for Sens Republicans. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler on Democratic opponents Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.
“We would like to see a balance of power between the three branches and we are not entirely comfortable with the agenda on the left,” said Peterson. “We are that mythical medium you are looking for,” adding that he could not imagine becoming a Democrat unless the party made “dramatic” changes to the issues.
The choices of voters like the Petersons can determine the outcome of the elections. Biden won a small victory of less than 12,000 votes in November of nearly 5 million across the state, but it took all elements of a growing coalition to get there, including Republicans who defected from Trump. Perdue led Ossoff by about 88,000 votes, although the incumbent did not achieve the required majority in Georgia because of the votes obtained by a libertarian.
Perdue overcame Trump in many places where wealthy voters predominate. His advantage was obvious in eastern Cobb County, part of a suburban congressional district that Newt Gingrich once represented, but where Democrat Lucy McBath won re-election to Congress. It was shown in the Forsyth County’s out-of-town Republican stronghold, where Asian American voters are rising, in the planned community of Peachtree City south of Atlanta and in parts of the Augusta suburb of Columbia County. Perdue also ran ahead of Trump in wealthier areas of DeKalb County, a Democratic bastion where Trump won just two of the 191 districts and lost some areas by 20 to 1.
“I think the attitude is I don’t like Trump, but give me a Republican I can vote for,” said J. Miles Coleman of the University of Virginia’s Policy Center, who studied Republican defections in Georgia. “I think they are still loyal to the party to some extent, but I think Trump has put these people more at odds.”
On the other hand, Trump won more votes than Perdue in many districts dominated by African-American voters, as well as in some rural Republican areas.
The place where Perdue had his biggest advantage over Trump was in wealthy districts in the northern part of Atlanta. In two districts that normally vote for Chastain Park, Trump beat Biden by 39 votes on almost 4,000 ballots. Perdue defeated Ossoff, winning 60% of the vote. This is more in line with the historic Republican performance in the area, where Mitt Romney defeated Barack Obama by almost 2-1 in 2012.
Republicans may have lost some voters permanently. Paige Levin said her move came four years ago, when she voted for Hillary Clinton instead of Donald Trump. Once, a Republican registered in Pennsylvania – Georgia does not register voters by party – Levin said she has “zero respect” for Perdue and Loeffler. Still, she suspects that many of her neighbors will support Republicans.
“I know my neighbors,” said Levin. “You have seen very few people putting Trump signs. Many people put up Perdue and Loeffler signs. “
Lee Kneer said he was attracted to Warnock, although “I still don’t necessarily consider myself a Democrat”.
Kneer said that much of American life “appears to have been configured to continue the access and privilege of a small minority.”
“I think a lot of people got tired of Trump, his shortcomings ended up overcoming the tax cut,” said Kneer. “The people I know are voters on a single issue, and their only problem is how their taxes will be affected.”
Others are joining the GOP. Karen Forrester describes herself as “super liberal in my social policy”, but fiscally conservative.
“It’s hard to be a Republican now,” she said, adding that she supported Perdue – whom she met – citing her experience in business and six years in the Senate.
“I’m excited that Biden is bringing us a little closer, but I would like to have some balance,” she said.
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Follow Jeff Amy on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jeffamy.