John Oxendine continues to lead the Republican field for governor, but almost 40 percent of voters are undecided, according to an Insider Advantage/WSB poll released today.

The poll puts Oxendine at 23 percent, Nathan Deal at 15 percent and Karen Handel at 14 percent. Eric Johnson had 5 percent, and Jeff Chapman and Ray McBerry both clocked in at 2 percent. Otis Putnam has 0 percent, which means that, given the margin of error, he could actually have negative 5 percent support. Thirty-nine percent were undecided.

So, Oxendine continues his downward drift (he had been polling the high 20s to low 30s). Deal and Handel are holding steady. Johnson is still not getting any traction despite a recent small TV buy. But Insider Advantage CEO Matt Towery reminds us that it’s still early.

As the candidates start to enter the time when they’re appearing more and more on local TV news, the public starts to pay more attention to the race. When campaigns enter this phase, it’s not uncommon to see the number of undecided voters fluctuate, and even increase.” [Editor’s note: The undecideds in the GOP governor’s race rose to 39% in this poll from 31% in an InsiderAdvantage poll of the race conducted in April.]

“It’s likely we’ll see fluctuations in polling results over the next month or so. By around the middle of June the race will begin to take a more definite shape as the candidates start to spend substantial money on TV ads and other high-profile political media,” he said. “By early July, we’ll likely now who the definite frontrunners are in this and other statewide races.

“Our polling indicates that voter turnout in the Georgia Republican primary July 20 may be historically large, especially given that gubernatorial election years in Georgia – ‘off-years’ for national politics – usually draw comparatively fewer voters to the polls than do elections in presidential years.

“Polling to date also suggests that turnout for the Democratic primary may be quite light. We should get a better read on this possibility when InsiderAdvantage polls the Democratic governor’s race next week,” said Towery.

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