11Alive Poll: Voters Not Swayed By Big Name Visits

ATLANTA -- A new 11Alive/SurveyUSA poll says that most voters in Georgia would not be swayed by a visit from either John McCain or Barack Obama in support of US Senate candidates Saxby Chambliss or Jim Martin.

On Thursday, Sen. John McCain will be in Cobb County campaigning for Chambliss, his fellow Senate Republican -- and Democratic challenger Jim Martin is waiting to hear if President-Elect Barack Obama will campaign in Georgia for him.

Chambliss and Martin will face each other in a run-off election on December 3.

McCain, nine days after losing his campaign for president, will be campaigning for Chambliss at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre. Chambliss is counting on McCain to raise both money and votes.

"John's very popular in this state. He carried it by a wide margin," Chambliss said. "John is a good friend and he's coming here to help us rally the troops and get out the vote."

"That's all the politics of the past, and people want a senator who's going to look to the future," said Martin.

Martin believes that McCain's campaign visit for Chambliss will have no impact on the campaign, although Martin believes an Obama visit for him will have a positive impact on his own campaign.

The 11Alive/SurveyUSA poll on Wednesday of 550 registered voters found that McCain's visit will make only 15 percent of them more likely to vote for Chambliss, and 24 percent less likely. And 60 percent of them said McCain's appearance for Chambliss will have no impact on their choice.

If Obama were to come to Georgia to campaign for Martin, 30 percent of the voters polled said they would be more likely to vote for candidate Martin, while 29 percent said they'd be less likely. And 40 percent said an Obama appearance for Martin would have no impact on their choice.

The poll was taken via telephone across the state of Georgia, and has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 4.3 percentage points.

The runoff election was forced after neither Martin nor Chambliss received a simple majority of the votes cast in the November 4th general election.