Georgia's gubernatorial race is essentially tied — raising the possibility of a Dec. 4 runoff if no candidate surpasses 50 percent of the Nov. 6 vote, a new poll showed Thursday.
The NBC News/Marist survey found, in a head-to-head contest among registered voters in Georgia, both Democrat Stacey Abrams and Republican Brian Kemp receive 47 percent support.
Among likely voters, Kemp gets 49 percent to Abrams' 47 percent.
When libertarian Ted Metz is included on the ballot, Kemp gets 46 percent, Abrams gets 45 percent, and Metz gets 4 percent.
The poll's margin of error is plus or minus 4.8 percentage points.
In other findings, the poll show:
- In a two-way race among likely voters, Abrams leads among African-American voters 84 percent to 11 percent, while Kemp leads among whites 66 percent to 31 percent.
- Abrams is the preferred candidate among younger voters, 55 percent to Kemp's 42 percent; women, 55 percent to 41 percent; college graduates, 52 percent to 45 percent; and among Independents, 50 percent to 41 percent. She trails Kemp among white women with a college degree, 47 percent to 51 percent.
- Kemp is the preferred candidate among rural voters, 66 percent to Abrams' 31 percent; men, 57 percent to 39 percent; and non-college graduates, 53 percent to 42 percent.