An InsiderAdvantage survey conducted with Ga Pundit (www.gapundit.com), of more than 2,000 registered voters last week, tells us how much attention voters devote to the annual session of the Georgia General Assembly. In short, they react to the legislature with a resounding yawn.
Most surveys of the legislative session presume that the public is following the every move of their elected officials. But the survey confirms once again that the public has a hard time getting excited about state politics.
Prior IA polls have shown great confusion among voters over the difference between Congress on the federal level and legislators serving at the state level.
The good news might be that polls recently have shown a much higher approval rating for state legislators than for members of Congress.
That said, the news is not great for the General Assembly. The poll conducted last week shows that only 25% of Georgians closely follow what goes on under the Gold Dome.
Of greater note is that nearly half (48%) of Georgia voters claimed to follow the legislature “somewhat.”
As for those who openly admit to a total lack of interest, that percentage is about equal to those who claim to be watching the General Assembly’s every move.
For legislators who crave attention, the bad news is that there is about a 75% chance that at any given moment, no one really knows or cares what they might be doing, or knows what position they hold. On the other side of things, if they are up to “no good” (not that any are), most citizens won’t likely know or care. A silver lining in an otherwise rather sobering set of results.
