A private poll making its way under the Gold Dome confirms what polls by the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Fox 5 Atlanta, and WSB-TV have shown in the past: Georgians overwhelmingly support casino gaming and horse racing in Georgia.
And the numbers, which are well above the sixty percent level, are high among both Republicans and Democrats. But the highest level of support comes from African-American voters. In the private poll, conducted by a firm closely tied to the state’s top leaders, approval from every possible demographic is well over the fifty percent level. That includes those who identify themselves as Christian Conservatives.
All of this might help explain why a state Senate Constitutional Amendment to allow voters to decide whether to allow horse racing in the state, and a state House measure to allow Georgians to vote on limited casino gambling in the state, have sailed through their first hurdles in their respective chambers.
With just days to go before “crossover day” it is likely that both Republicans and Democrats will swarm to support both referendums. Georgia could repeat its “lottery moment” in the early 1990s, when the state voted to create the Georgia Lottery and thus fund the HOPE Scholarship.
